puzzles

I love traditions. Many of my favorite family traditions focus around the Christmas holiday. We have our traditional Christmas Eve meal, but I also started traditions for my children when they arrived in our family. The Elves bring them daily small gifts for their stockings the week before Christmas. Santa brings each of them a Christmas themed book as part of his gifts. We now have quite the collection of children's holiday literature.

A more recent tradition is the puzzle. For the last three years we've received a puzzle either as a gift from a family member, a family friend or from Santa. Working a puzzle together is one of the things we look forward to doing on our vacation. This year we didn't open and begin the puzzle until vacation was almost over, but that 1000 piece challenge was completed within a week. We each take turns sitting down at the folding table we set up just for this activity. Sometimes the girls worked together. Sometimes they worked alone. While they were at school, I'd try and further fill in the picture. The boys worked on it as well, often finding just the right piece, the one that had eluded us.  Even some of the girls' friends got in on the action and helped.

I met a friend on Sunday at B&N for a coffee and as I was driving there I got a text from the middle kid. She wanted me to get another puzzle. I was happy to oblige when I found the Ravensburger holiday puzzles marked half off. I'd purchased one, at full price, for Santa to bring. The one I had left behind was now on sale. We are busy working a puzzle featuring two angels facing off with music and mandolin.

This may be our last puzzle for the winter, but I'm happy to know that this tradition has grown legs. This may  be something we continue in the future, and perhaps the kids will incorporate this activity into their own families someday.