"Cheryl," I hear you saying, "when are you going to start with the "easy ideas for home celebrations" that you promised?"
Today, readers!
Although I don't promise that I won't return to the philosophy of celebration from time to time, I am ready to plunge into some simple, practical ideas for celebrations.
One more thing. Everyone is in a different place, so to speak. If you're a young mother with several small children, your celebrations will look different from those of a mother whose children have left the nest, or even from those of a mother with one or more older children in the house. If you're single, your celebrations will be different from those of your friends with husbands and families. But I am going to offer some simple ideas as a springboard...hopefully a little something for everybody!
Here goes...
Celebrate a child's birthday by measuring his growth.
Maybe you think the door below looks like an ordinary closet door.
But if you open the door, you'll see our very own growth chart!
A little closer peek...
(Can you see it?)
Over the years, one of the highlights of each child's birthday has been being measured on a bedroom closet door! Today, three of our four children are adults, but we have this tangible record of their growth from year to year. It is priceless to this mama!
Sometime on Birthday Day, we go upstairs to the closet door whose inside surface was never painted, and have the Birthday Girl or Boy stand against the door while Mom or Dad marks the height of the child. Beside the mark, we write the child's name and the year. Then we linger for a while...remarking about how much the child has grown over the past year...comparing how tall she is compared to her siblings when they were her age...then reminiscing about how much everyone is growing and how time passes. It is sort of a birthday rite at our house.
Granted, not everyone lives in the same farmhouse for thirty-two years. Maybe you move more often, or maybe you rent, or maybe you just don't want to permanently mark up a door.
Well, how about this clever idea for a mobile growth chart?
Isn't that cute? It looks pretty easy. And inexpensive. And totally mobile. Win-win-win! (Click ~here~ for the simple instructions.)
Children love to see how much they've grown! It's one way to "mark a notable occasion with gratitude and rejoicing."
This is Day 7 in the series CeLeBRaTe!! Click ~here~ to see more.
Cheryl, we have one too... inside the bathroom door jam! I recently painted around it to preserve it during the bathroom remodel.
ReplyDeleteWhen the girls were little, we rented a local house, and a couple weeks after we moved in, the owner knocked on the door. Crowbar in hand, he asked if I minded if he removed a piece of wood and replaced it. Upstairs in the bathroom, he pried off the edge of the door jam that had HIS boys' growth chart on it, and nailed on a fresh strip of wood! :-)
That door looks remarkably like the backside of my linen closet door. I can attest that children love to see their growth! It's pretty fun for the adults, too. (And a little scary.)
ReplyDeleteThese markings to me are very sad to leave when you move, or to paint over, even if you move into a house where it's someone else's chart! I'll miss your posts for a few days . . .. but I'll be back. You are really doing a wonderful job here!
ReplyDeleteOh how I wish we had done this! They love to be measured - Tim just did all of them the other day, but we have no permanent marking place.
ReplyDeleteSo sad....
Deanna
My sister made us a wooden growth chart. It's made of a 1 x 6 board and is painted to look like a ruler.
ReplyDeleteIt looks similar to this: http://crabandfish.blogspot.com/2012/05/diy-giant-ruler-growth-chart.html
I love it because it'll last forever, but it can still be moved.
I love this idea Cheryl! As one mama to another it's the little things that mean so much! I'm enjoying your series. ♥
ReplyDeleteWhat a great idea. xo
ReplyDeleteLove this, we did this at our old house, and what wonderful memories! Thanks for sharing.
ReplyDeleteWhen we moved two years ago we had to leave our growth chart behind. wah. It was that or demolish the trim around the door...and trust me, I thought about it. I so wish we had just used a stained two by four or something that would move easily. But I love this idea so much. I think my 18 year old is still growing which is shocking as he is already the hugest person in the whole entire family.
ReplyDelete