August is a poor forlorn month.  It doesn’t have any national holidays.  It’s the month when your grandchildren have to go back to school — well at least in our state this is the month kids go back.  (Some of them may rejoice and be excited.  Others may dread the day.)

To perk up this month and to perk up your activities with your grandchildren, I found a list of wacky and  unusual ‘national day’ events in August.   Here is just a smidgeon:

• August 2 – National Ice Cream Sandwich Day.  Rats!  We’re a day late here, folks.  But, I bet if you had a belated ice cream sandwich day with your grandchildren they wouldn’t complain.
• August 3 – National Watermelon Day. Yipee!  Rush out and buy one of these little puppies and then have fun carving them.
• August 5 – Work Like a Dog Day.  Be sure to come to my house to celebrate this day . . .
• August 6 – National Mustard Day (the first Saturday in August)
• August 6 - Wiggle Your Toes Day. (I kid you not folks.  This really was on the list of national holidays.)
• August 7 – Friendship Day (first Sunday in August)
• August 7 – International Forgiveness Day
• August 7 – National Lighthouse Day. Here’s a fun lighthouse in a bottle craft activity.
• August 8 – Sneak Some Zucchini onto Your Neighbor’s Porch Day (wickedly fun!)
• August 9 – Book Lover’s Day (Spend time with your grandchildren at the library or book store and reading then reading your books.)
• August 10 – Lazy Day
• August 10 – National S’mores Day (Invite me over if you celebrate this day!)
• August 13 – Left-Handers’ Day
• August 16 – National Tell a Joke Day
• August 17 – National Thriftshop day (I can see that this could be a great activity to do with grandchildren!)
• August 20 – National Radio Day (Do grandkids of today even know what a radio is?  Probably the only association they have is with the one in the car.)
• August 24 – Vesuvius Day (This day in 79 A.D. Mount Vesuvius erupted.  It was one of the largest volcanic explosions in recorded history.  Make your own volcano with your grandchild.)
• August 30 – Frankenstein Day. This day is Mary Wollenstone Shelley’s birthday.  She’s the author of Frankenstein.  This day honors her birth.  If you celebrate Book Lover’s Day, you could check Frankenstein out of the library and read it by this day.  Then you can make this goofy Frankenstein puppet craft.
• August 30 – Toasted Marshmallow Day
• August 31 – National Trail Mix Day

What other wacky holidays do you celebrate with your grandchildren?

We’re back from Denmark. I want to thank the grandma bloggers who willingly wrote a guest post for me while I was gone.  I truly appreciate them writing a post for me.

Even though we’ve been back for several days, I can’t say that my body is fully recovered from jet lag yet. In all of our previous travels, I have never experienced jet lag.  I used to think jet lag was a bunch of hooey.  Now, I’m an avid believer!

In addition to that, it was our anniversary yesterday.  We went out to dinner at the Olive Garden (yum, yum, yum) and then went to a local mall to shop for some shoes for my husband.  Needless to say, I haven’t gotten anything written to post here.

However, celebrating my anniversary reminded me of a family holiday that I created for our family.  Since our wedding day was the ‘birthday’ of our family, I called it Lewis Day and we did all sorts of fun activities with the kids.

I wrote about Lewis Day here on this posting.  You might want to create a similar holiday that you could celebrate with your grandchildren.

Do you have any special holidays that you created that you celebrate with your grandchildren?

(Note: My husband and I will be in Denmark until Sept. 18th.  I’ve asked a couple of other spectacular grandmas to write a guest post for me.  They graciously accepted! To which I say, thank you, thank you, thank you!)

Family Traditions Rich in Holiday Cheer

by Shelly of Grandma’s Little Pearls

It is that time of year again. Time for me at least, to start thinking about the holidays. The family traditions that we have as a family are looked forward to by all four generations of us. While we have many different traditions throughout the year it is our winter holiday traditions that tend to be the most precious to our family.

Halloween is celebrated with a big block party on the dark rural road that my daughters and I share. Thanksgiving is a huge feast that we all work together to prepare. It has become a tradition that we all linger together playing games and visiting until we are all ready to feast again before we all head home.

It is the day after Thanksgiving that kicks off our families Ho…Ho…Holidays. It is a schedule of our family Christmas traditions. The planning begins now to choose the what’s, where’s, and when’s so that everyone’s calendars can save the dates that are important to our family unit.

It is also very helpful to make food and activity assignments ahead of time so that creative thoughts and resources can begin to be gathered.

The very first tradition on our schedule is generally the Grandkids’ Christmas Day Camp that my husband and I host for our ten grandchildren. The camp is twelve hours long and it is for all ages so that the parents can have a full kid free day to start their Christmas shopping. It is a day filled with Christmas crafts, games, snacks, activities, cooking, music, the true meaning of Christmas, and more for the children.

Other traditions include an adults night out, a progressive dinner so that we can be sure to see one another’s homes decorated for the holidays, an evening spent with great grandma and grandpa, Christmas Eve, Christmas day, and a few more.

Creating and keeping traditions alive in a family requires some effort and planning. In my experience any effort put forth is magnified by at least a hundred fold in blessing a family unit with strong family bonds, family unity, love, precious memories, and a real sense of belonging.

I always love hearing of the family traditions of others so please share. If you are interested in more of my ideas for holiday crafts, games, activities, and outings please visit my blog and click on the side links titled Christmas traditions, Christmas day camp, or Creating memories.

Funny how things just come your way when you really aren’t seeking them. Like more ideas of things to make for Valentine’s Day. It might be getting too close to Valentine’s Day to do some of these things. If so, make note of them and then you’ll be prepared for next year!!

I’ve got to say up front that I am not crafty. (My husband say’s I’m shifty . . . but not crafty . . . what a play on words . . . ) However, I have discovered The Artful Crafter’s web site. If you click on the posts for February, you’ll find lots of fun Valentine’s Day ideas.  You’ll find ideas for etching hearts on glasses, a Valentine pillar candle, and a fun, fun, fun, crayon heart card.  Plus more!

The Craft Elf has some easy projects that you could do with your grandchildren:  beaded heart pin, heart magnets, heart head band, Valentine person, a door hanger, and more.

	Here are directions for pin weaving hearts to be used on a card.  I’m thinking that all of you clever grandmas out there could also think of ways to use the hearts instead of putting them on cards.  I’m new to this pin weaving thing . . . you might be too.  If so, you can take a lesson from the Craft Connection.
	Crafty I’m not. But I am a seamstress. Albeit not too currently involved in sewing. However, I do believe that I could make this darling raggedy heart pillow! If you click on the link at the bottom of the page, it will take you to more fun raggedy projects to make: heart coasters, button heart pillow, and a candle mat.

Enjoy!
Digi-Gram