This week, we will celebrate Rosh Hashanah – the Jewish New Year. When Colin was just a baby, I remember being so excited about creating new family traditions as a family, entering this new phase in our lives where we would shake up our family routines and add fresh child-centric activities to a stale routine of family dinner -> attend synagogue -> family dinner.

Then we woke up in late September, realized we had an adorable blob of a four month old who wouldn’t notice in the least if we were doing crafts, baking special treats, or reading unique-to-the-holiday books. We dragged C along with our typical routines, meandered in our sleep-deprived state through the motions of the Jewish High Holidays, and resolved to make a better effort the next year. And of course, twelve months raced by and we found ourselves faced with a 16 month old who had a rigid nap schedule, an extremely early 6 pm bedtime and so much mobility that the idea of sitting still for a story or focusing long enough for a craft was so pie-in-the-sky that I laughed at the idea of doing anything to celebrate. We skipped the synagogue part, we skipped family dinner, we really skipped all of it.

So this year, we are resolving to do things a bit differently. First, we aren’t traveling home to Ohio this year for Rosh Hashanah, so the traditions automatically will be different. Plus at two-and-change, Colin is a ball of energy, but he’s able to focus long enough for a simple craft or baking project. Another bonus that comes with age is that his one nap routine is definitely conducive to going to synagogue as a family, and he’s starting to understand the concept of celebrating holidays (this kid would celebrate his birthday daily if it meant presents and cake…oy).  Here are some of the things I’m hoping to incorporate into our new set of traditions:

1) Big family dinners.  We rarely are able to sit and eat together as a family, because of Mr. C’s hectic work schedule.  This year, I hope to sit around the table with no screens visible and eat a delicious dinner together.  We’ll see if anyone else is around to join us for these dinners – our family isn’t local, but you never know if we’ll have friends around who want to share the fun.  I’d like to have the kind of home where all feel welcome to join when they don’t have anywhere else to celebrate.

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2) Baking for the holiday together.  There are a few culinary traditions surrounding Rosh Hashanah (all of which are more fun than fasting on Yom Kippur ten days later). One is eating a circular challah bread, often laced with honey and raisins, that symbolizes the cycle of the year. While of course we could purchase one, I’d love to use this opportunity to engage Colin in baking projects (both to teach about the holiday and the often limited toddler skill of patience). I’ve found a great tutorial for braiding a round challah here and a couple of promising recipes here and here. Many people also eat special apple themed baked goods (apples and honey symbolize the wishing of a sweet New Year), and since Colin is baking an apple cake at preschool, I’m not sure how much more this non-baker over here will truly attempt to tackle in the realm of sweets (Mrs. Oatmeal I am not).

3)  Speaking of apples and honey, I’m hoping to spend the afternoon of Rosh Hashanah (or part of the weekend before or after) apple picking as a family – which is a great fall tradition regardless of religion. Who doesn’t love apple picking?!  Especially if we can tie in the religious significance of what we’re doing to the activity.


Apple picking will look a lot different this year with a running toddler!

4)  And after we pick more apples than I think we could possibly eat, I want to do some cute apple-themed crafts (and some other High Holiday-inspired crafts) with Colin and his buddies at a play date.  Here’s the inspiration I’ve found via Pinterest:


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4)  Volunteering as a family.  I have written on Hellobee many times before about my strong feelings about starting to volunteer with children at an early age.  Holiday celebrations are great times to remind children about how fortunate we are, and this year, we will be giving back through our local food bank’s annual food drive.

5)  Reading books about the holiday.  We own a ton of books about Hanukkah, and various books about other holidays, both religious and secular, that are celebrated throughout the year.  I’m hoping to take advantage of my local library for this one, filling in with a few purchases, to use Colin’s favorite pastimes of snuggling up with books to learn about the meaning behind all of these activities.  Here are some great books I’ve found:

(I’m Sorry, Grover: A Rosh Hashanah Tale  |  Happy Birthday, World: A Rosh Hashanah Celebration  |  Apples and Honey: A Rosh Hashanah Lift-the-Flap Book  |  Engineer Ari and the Rosh Hashanah Ride  |  How the Rosh Hashanah Challah Became Round  |  Apple Days: A Rosh Hashanah Story)

As you can see, I’m certainly being ambitious now that I have a kiddo old enough to begin to appreciate holiday traditions, but I’m hoping that completing at least a substantial fraction of this list will make for a special, meaningful holiday celebration.  To all those who are celebrating, the Confetti family wishes you a Shana Tova u’Metukah – a happy and sweet New Year!

Jewish bees, how are you celebrating the High Holidays with your children this year?