🎅🏻Eck's-mas Traditions🎄

This is my favorite time of year. My kiddos are now 14, 11, 5, and 15 months, and we have created some Xmas or "Eck's-mas" traditions through the years. Here are some of my favorites:

1. Bake with your kids. Every year we make at least 3-4 different types of Christmas cookies, but the cutout frosted sugar cookies are still always their favorite. Let them have a bunch to frost and decorate however they want. Just wait to clean your kitchen until after it's all said and done.....Sprinkles and frosting are everywhere.....but oh how they enjoy it!

2. Christmas cards. I always get a few extra for their scrapbooks. The last few years I even started framing them to use as part of our decorations at Xmas time. I only wish I would have started that years ago.

3. Christmas movies. We have a growing Christmas movie collection. We love being cozy watching them and then putting them away till next Eck's-mas so we can enjoy them again.

4. Give. Every year we find a child in need, who is typically asking for something that we take for granted. I believe it's important to teach kids the importance of giving. It also helps remind them that we have a lot to be thankful for.

5. Christmas Jammie's. This is a big one for me because I like all my photos at Xmas to be festive.....everyone coordinated with the holiday spirit! I love seeing pictures from Christmas past, with the kiddos opening gifts in their Xmas Jammie's.

6. The Elf on the shelf. A HUGE commitment for the family, but that little guy brings so much Christmas Spirit into our house. Each morning from December 1-24th there is excitement to find him.....and sometime he brings special goodies straight from the North Pole. Every year he has brought a new ornament for each child....something they will always have to remember their Christmas as a child. Our elf reminds everyone to be good and to believe.

7. BELIEVE. At the Eck home: if you Believe, you will receive. You will hear this frequently this time of year. When you have a wide range of ages in a household you must believe.

8. Play. We have typically lived around snow. Although I hate being cold, you forget about that when you get out and take your kids outside to go sledding, ice skating, or to build a snowman. I have the best memories taking my sons sledding in MN and MT. We still share funny stories, remembering and laughing about the good times.

9. Decorate. My whole house gets decorated for Xmas. It's a lot of work! 20 storage tubs to be exact!  We always get one big real tree, and two smaller artificial ones. I love my house fully decorated so it's almost magical and full of Christmas spirit for my family.

10. Santa Picture. I had one taken every year since my first son was born. Crying or not, I get the picture and frame it to put up in the house every year at Xmas. They are some of my favorite decorations. So many memories looking at the man in the red suit and seeing my growing family and their love of him and Christmas.

Happy Holidays to you all. A wonderful time of year for love and happiness. Enjoy your traditions year after year. Feel free to leave a comment below and add a special tradition you may have. I'd love to hear them❤️🎄💚🎅🏻🙏🏼. 

the end......

As I lay in bed unable to sleep.....I have a hard time coming to terms with our season being over.

You can easily get spoiled with the excitement of still playing football in December. Like a kid at Xmas you just keep wanting more.

It was tough losing in the quarter finals of the playoffs. Seeing our senior players hug their families with a tear in their eye knowing they had put their pads on for the last time....having just lost to the team we had beaten in our rivalry game early that year......that all their hard work preparing for the game by our coaches and players just wasn't enough. 

To be completely honest, I was also selfishly upset, knowing my husband would have to go on the road recruiting immediately next week.....the season's over. Time to prepare for the future seasons. I have to become, once again, a single parent taking care of our four children....while he is away finding future Jackrabbits.

It's never fun to lose, and even the best of coaches and players do. We've been a part of many staffs, and I have always really enjoyed seeing loyal fans and rivalry between schools. It has always been a fun experience for me.

Having said that, I don't think it's EVER ok to cheer when opposing team's players are hurt, or to shout for coaches to be fired, to bad mouth the other teams fans on some of the worst levels, or to celebrate with your team after you tried to hurt the other team's player worse when they were already down.

You really don't know the other team's story. Some players lost family members this year. Some battled through painful injuries for hopes to keep the season going longer. Some kids in the stands are children of coaches who believe in their fathers 100%, and don't need to hear anything different about them. Just remember those football players on the other team are also someone's son and deserve respect. 

You can still be a loyal fan and be classy. I've seen it at Florida State, Iowa, Colorado, Wisconsin, etc. I am all for loyal fans.....but there are some lines that shouldn't be crossed. What do we teach kids when we cheer when a player is injured??? Children are our future...it's awful.

Having said all that....I'm so proud to be a Jackrabbit, because through some trials and tribulations, we found a way to keep winning, and play until December 10th. We beat our big rivals during the regular season, and took home the Dakota marker to our new stadium. We won the Missouri Valley Football Conference and made it farther than we ever had in school history. 

After witnessing all that I saw Saturday. I am 100% proud to be a Jackrabbit. We know how to win games but keep our composure staying true and classy. That's Jackrabbit football💛🐰💙🏈

Big congrats to all our players.....and much love and thanks to all our seniors. Proud of our football family💙🐰💛🏈🙏🏼.