Advertisements
Advertisements
Originally Posted By Donna
I'm wondering how folks celebrate anniversaries, and which ones they celebrate? I focus in on the day my son came home, and we go out to dinner and celebrate together. As I recall, last year on the way home we stopped and bought him some new Pokemon cards. But then there's the Day We Signed the Adoption Papers, and Our Court Date, when it all became official. (The Court Date anniversary is tomorrow, and any possible plans were zapped - pleasantly - by a special dinner the kids are cooking for the parents at his after school program. So I'll just write a note to send in his lunch box.) Does anybody celebrate every significant day? Presents? Parties? So far I've kept our celebrations private and low-key. Just curious about others.
I'm glad to see your reference to "anniversaries". Personally I don't care for the term "gotcha day". We celebrate our family anniversary - thats the day we picked my son up at the orphanage. We had met him several months earlier, and adopted him by proxy a few weeks earlier. I prefer to have just one day, so as not to put too much emphasis on the differences in how our family was formed.
Like you, our family anniversary is a quiet day. We just spend the day together doing something fun. One year my parents town had a corn festival and fireworks in honor of our anniversary! Another year we went to Niagara Falls for the day. Once my husband couldn't get off work, so we had a nice picnic and ice cream cake.
We have also added things from my son's heritage to our celebrations across the year. Babushka brings a small gift on Epiphany (usually something handmade in Russia). Now that he is older I want to attend an Orthodox church for some of the special holidays. My son is very proud of his heritage, and I want to keep nurturing that.
DimasMom
Advertisements
Originally Posted By Dr. Arthur Becker-Weidman
One of the hall-marks of a healthy person is a coherent autobiographical memory. A remembered and experienced personal history that encompasses all events of importance is necessary for a complete sense of self.
Celebrating these dates every year is one way of showing your child how important is your child and that these dates are significant. It is less important which dates you celebrate than that they be important for the family and that each year the date be marked in some way.
For example, we celebrate adoption day, which is the day we adopted our daughter in China. By celebrate I mean what we usually do for special events (birthdays, holidays, etc), we either go out for dinner or have a special meal at home. We usually get our daughter a small gift to mark the day. We also note, in passing, the day we got her at the Orphanage in China...which is similiar to our noting with our other children the day Mom went into labor.
I hope this helps you.
Best wishes,
Arthur Becker-Weidman, Ph.D.
Center For Family Development
716-810-0790
AWeidman@concentric.net
[url="http://www.Center4FamilyDevelop.com"]http://www.Center4FamilyDevelop.com[/url]