More on Celebrating

On Saturday I shared a few thoughts on celebration.  I said I had heard something on a podcast that resonated with me:

If something is worth our time, our effort, and even our stress, when that thing is over, we should honor it with a celebration. If a task or project is worth our devotion, it is important enough to celebrate when it's complete. 

I also talked about something we celebrated at our house last weekend. It was a big thing and needed to be acknowledged.  However, it's not only the big things that should earn our recognition.  Often it's the smaller milestones in life that need to be celebrated. 

• Each of my kids ate a piece of chocolate when they hit the 100th lessons in their individual math books. 
• Our family has movie night almost every Saturday night, signifying another week has passed.
• We eat a special dinner on the first day of each school year. 
• When Brian works long hours, the kids and I take out the trash before he gets home and pack his lunch for the next day so he can savor his hours at home. 
• After preparing multiple food items for a party, we'll eat sandwiches for dinner (instead of more cooking). 
• When Maddie and Owen learned to read, they were given small gifts.  We did something similar when each child was successfully potty trained.

Notice the celebrations are rarely elaborate.  They cost minimal money and come with little fuss, but they are meaningful and most of all, they mark the completion of something that was important enough for our devotion.