6 Ways to Celebrate Grandparents Day

by Victoria M. Johnson

Grandparents Day became a national holiday in 1978 and is celebrated the first Sunday after Labor Day.  For 2018 that day is September 9.

According to a post on the Very Well Family website, the holiday came about when a West Virginia mother, Marian McQuade, "while helping to organize a community celebration for those over 80, became aware of the many nursing home residents who were forgotten by their families. She wanted a holiday to bring attention to these forgotten individuals and to honor all grandparents."  And McQuade intended the holiday to be noncommercial and more about family and celebrating generational connections.

The Holidays Calendar website states the purposes of Grandparents Day is: 1) to commemorate and pay respect to grandparents, 2) to recognize the importance that older people can have on the lives of the young, and 3) to give said grandparents the opportunity to show love and support for their children’s children.

 

It all sounds good to me!  So what can we do to celebrate the grandparents and grandchildren in our lives? 

photo by Thais Morais

Here are a few ideas:

1.  Call or visit

This one is obvious.  Grandparents love to hear from their children and grandchildren any time of the year.

2.  Take a walk

It doesn’t get any simpler than this.  A stroll around the neighborhood, the beach, or anywhere in nature is good for exercise and bonding.

3.  Complete a puzzle together  

This sounds fun.  Visit while you all put your heads together to assemble the pieces.

4.  Make a video together

You don't need an expensive camera to make a movie.  Just use your smart phone to record, edit, and watch.  The video can be anything you like: a How-to, an interview, cooking demonstration, singing, etc.  Keep it short, three or so minutes, so you can finish and watch it in one visit. 

5.  Cook for your grandparents

Instead of grandma cooking for you, cook up a special meal for your grandparents.  The kids can help prepare or bake the dessert ahead of time.   Or grandma may want to cook with the kids.

6.  Start a new tradition together

Grandparents can take the lead on this and create a simple, meaningful, and fun new tradition.  On the GaGa Sisterhood website, Donne Davis says, "Rituals don’t have to be big. But they should have a purpose and be personal. Make them direct and active as possible and fun is always a plus." 

Finally, here is a link to 25 adorable DIY gift ideas on the Dating Divas website.

These craft projects can be made as a gift or they can be a fun activity for children to make with their grandparents.  The ideas for handprints and footprints are my favorites. 

In the words of Alex Haley, "Nobody can do for little children what grandparents do. Grandparents sort of sprinkle stardust over the lives of little children."  And Grandparents Day is a day to show our appreciation for them. (Actually, it is a day to honor any elderly person who you appreciate).  What will you do?  Let us know in the comments below.

Victoria M. Johnson knew by the time she was ten that she wanted to be a writer.  She loves telling stories and she's happiest when creating new characters and new plots.  Avalon Books and Montlake Romance published Victoria's fiction debut, The Doctor’s Dilemma.  Her other fiction book is a collection of romance short stories titled, The Substitute Bride and a novella, Hot Hawaiian Christmas. She is also the writer and director of four short films and two micro documentaries.   Visit Victoria's website at http://VictoriaMJohnson.com for inspiration and tips and find her Amazon author page or connect with her on Pinterest and Twitter.

Nostalgia Time!

Christmas is a time for nostalgia--for entertaining the ghosts of Christmas Past and Present and trying to titillate the ghost of Christmas Future, hoping to catch a glimpse as he flutters by. We work at making memories, so it shouldn't surprise us when those memories come full circle and we see our children and later, our grandchildren, repeating the same traditions.

When I was a child, my parents had a basic rule: no one could approach the tree on Christmas morning until the whole family was together. My hubby liked the idea, so we continued it with our family, but our kids took it a step further. They picked one bedroom where the whole crowd gathered, some in sleeping bags on the floor. Then when the first of them stirred, they woke the others. Since the rule said we had to be there too, they woke us by singing Christmas carols down the hallway. It was a lovely way to awaken each December 25.

Now some of our grandchildren huddle together on Christmas Eve and wake their parents with carols the following morning. Some have also continued a tradition begun with my mother and carried down through my family: homemade cinnamon rolls with egg nog, mulled cider, and/or hot chocolate as a mid-morning brunch after the gifts are opened. Both are traditions worth emulating.

We had other traditions we weren't so eager to pass down, such as the stay-up-until-early-hours-putting-toys-together marathon. I hope none of our children are carrying that one forward. Then there's the tradition no one else has needed, the one in which my birthday present appears under the tree wrapped in non-Christmas paper, the peculiar joys brought on by a Christmas-week birth.

Other traditions are shared by some of the next generation and fondly remembered by others. The pipe bells, made for me as a gift by my sister-in-law in a style similar to those made years before for my mother, are a Christmas Eve tradition. When we gather around the fireplace, we share around the bells and laugh as we try to keep rhythm on familiar carols.

Of course there are also the familiar recipes: fudge and caramels by the pound, certain kinds of brittle and divinity only made at Christmas time, pumpkin bread, holiday pudding, and a wide variety of others. Each has its memories and different family members promise "it wouldn't be Christmas" without one combination or another. Since we add to them every year (the newest is Coconutty Christmas Pie), the list of sugary treats seems to grow as rapidly as our waistlines and we always have something to resolve for the new year.

A few days from now we'll be looking forward to another joyous Christmas with much of our family here to share it. We'll be enjoying old traditions and making new ones. Whatever the holiday means to you and yours, I wish you merriment, joy, and peace.

Susan Aylworth is the author of 14 novels, all available as e-books. She loves her northern California home which she shares with her husband of 46 years and the two spoiled cats they serve. When she can't be with her seven children, seven great kids-in-law, and 25 grandbabies, she loves hanging with her fictional offspring, the children of her mind. She also loves hearing from readers. Visit her website at www.susanaylworth.com or find her @SusanAylworth, at .facebook.com/Susan.Aylworth.Author, or on Pinterest.