French Fry Kisses & Ketchup Dreams For A New Year

I can’t believe we are at the end of a year, and every year I reflect on how lucky and blessed I truly am.  

Today, as like every year before I celebrate French Fry Kisses & Ketchup Dreams for the new year ahead.

French Fry Kisses & Ketchup Dreams For A New Year

Basically, this is a reflection on life gone by and how to tune things up, and always become a better version of me, but there’s more.

French Fry Kisses & ketchup dreams develop day after day!

Do you remember the show Lifestyles of the Rich & Famous?

Robin Leech would say …. “champagne kisses and caviar dreams”, well this is my version: FRENCH FRY KISSES & KETCHUP DREAMS.

My kids are what make me complete and I could not be who I am without them.  

As most moms, I reflect on what I could have done better and what I am doing well and I move from there.  

The new year means a new you, and new ways to make a difference!

French Fries are the Golden standard for kids!

Yes, I love french fries and I love when we get them.

As many moms know, French Fries can be a gourmet meal for kids, and never ever forget the HEINZ Ketchup (I am from Pittsburgh after all!)

Let’s lavishly live life out loud and ring in the new year with french fry kisses and ketchup dreams.

Please note, this is a republished article from a few years back and while I loved this tradition as kids age, you probably won’t find teens doing this (LOL) because was cool as a toddler is not cool now:)

It was not something that I really realized I did that was funny until it was brought to my attention.

 It was a way to define our quirky moments and these kinds of moments happen all over the place in homes in different ways.

Sharing french fry kisses and ketchup dreams

Being Mom Or Being Dad –

Being a mom is not something that you can be born into, brought into, it is something that you learn as you go, and you make plenty of mistakes.

You live, you learn, you love and you keep everything else in line along the way.

Some weeks, it is an emotional roller coaster that we live in as moms and I make sure to cherish the good the bad, and the ugly because each day is one that will never repeat itself.

I make every hug count, every kiss special, and every “I LOVE YOU” heartfelt.

What Are French Fry Kisses & ketchup dreams?

French Fry Kisses are something that I hold near and dear to my heart and in my home, they are the ultimate in FAMILY!  

French Fry Kisses are like the little food that my kids crunch in my ear, the grapes that pop in their mouth making a hollow noise, or the slurping of fresh watermelon just so I can hear.  

These are cute little things that a mom and a dad can appreciate.

French Fry Kisses are like a gold card, just as sweet as those other things (please know that this may not be for everyone).

We take our favorite thing: french fries, seek out the LONGEST one and then keep the part in our mouth and nibble till our noses touch, just one second to say, we are family!  

I’m Not Alicia Silverstone Feeding my Child from my MOUTH

This moment is ONLY for those really yummy McDonald’s Fries only because they have the longest, best fries IMO.

The steadfast tradition came about with my daughter when she was just 2 years of age.

Truth be told this promptly stopped when she got out of kindergarten but it is fun.  

It’s was a tradition, and the kids each loved it!

Each child offered up one fry!  

Really it was just us being a family and just our way of defining fun, quirky moments.

Celebrating Ketchup Dreams

Life is like ketchup, it is splattered out in front of us, but how we wipe it up is how we lavishly live our dreams out loud.  

Really ketchup is messy but somehow we muddle through all the hot messes and the fry oil, to preserve family life, sanity and bolster our betterment.

With the end of the year up and coming, I tend to reflect as any mom does on what I could do.

French Fry Kisses & Ketchup dreams for reminiscing and sharing quirky family time

 I ponder on what things have made my life better and things that my kids have loved, but what is really standing out are the traditions, that we have and we have more than I ever realized.

What I am noticing is the kids don’t remember what they got each year for the Holiday but they remember what we have done to pre-celebrate and celebrate the holiday.  

The time spent, the events that we create, the music we listen to all lend themselves to what we define as ‘family and holiday time’.  

Gifts come and go, love is forever and traditions hold and pass down, so much more sustainable than a gift in wrapping paper.

The traditions create me to think more about what it is that makes these times so important, and I have got it now!

While in reality, It took me a while to get a clue as to what made these times together so special, and truly they are, here is how you can get the most out of your French Fry Kisses & Ketchup Dreams.

With our world of technology and life flying by with unimaginable speed I often rush to listen to what the kids are saying without really listening.

Grabbing French Fry Kisses and Ketchup Dreams

Listening Matters

How many times have you listened to your kids?

Do you really S-T-O-P what you are doing when they are talking about something that happened in their live?

Or do you passively listen while they spill their little hearts out about things that happened, while you peruse through your emails and texts?

If you do this, you miss the golden moments, the first time they express what truly is happening.

Trust me the second round of, “what did you just say” gets tangled somewhere between, “Mom did you really make me repeat that because you didn’t listen?” and “never mind, it’s not that big of a deal!”

If it comes out of their mouths, it’s a big deal, catch the story the first time, because there’s never another first version!

Listen Because Casual is not enough. UNPLUG

Are you a casual listener who watches tv, or movies while the kids are talking?

The value of listening could not be greater because you can learn so much through your children. 

Unplug, put the phone down, turn off the television, listen with your ears and eyes. Set the example, it pays off big because THEY will do the same.

The stories you will hear are those that you will tell their kids about when ‘mommy and daddy were little’.

Listen to the words these little people speak, they are the new world up and coming and they are already forming, they need you.

Unplugging will bring you more value than anything on the television or phone.  

Our occasion, events, and traditions are all-around listening, hanging out, talking, and spending time.

Why? Because everyone listens and shares it makes that time more important than any monetary item the kids will ever receive.

Seeing but not looking –

If you are a mom or a dad, you know that time passes quickly, and hands that are little quickly grow into hands that are big.

Enjoy how small they are, that precious moment, and enjoy the youth and vitality.

Yes, this comes with bitten fingernails, boogers on the walls, marker stains, and more but each thing they do albeit not all precious is the thing they do!

It’s making them who they are and challenging you to think before you move forward.

Really look at the gift that stands before you because before you are seeing, looking will be what happens as they grow, and you will ‘watch’ their lives evolve, so see now and participate.

I note that during our traditional events, I notice more about my kids because I am seeing (perfect curls, long fingers, beautiful youthful complexions, and warm kind hearts).

Spending time this year not just money

Buying everything for the kids does not make them happier, it just makes them have more things and they may not play with what they have.

I don’t think there is much more to say here, other than traditions don’t have to cost you money to make them special.

The Traditions that make a family….a family

Traditions grow from your love of being a parent, deciding what will define your family.  

Create traditions and they will last a lifetime, and they will grow and blossom as the kids add to each tradition.

For instance, some of our best times are around our Chef’s island eating and drinking after coming home from late-night events.

With the new year ushering its way to your doorstep, reflect, regroup and remember because memories are for a lifetime.  

The word NEW in NEW Year to sew the work for the upcoming year.

N   is for not knowing the path and just taking it to where it leads (almost living like a kid with your kids)

E   is for every moment, every occasion, capture the moment by looking, listening, and learning through your kids

W is for words, — the words that your kids speak, listen to them they define them, and teach you all about who they are becoming.

The aforementioned is all the truest form of French Fry Kisses & Ketchup Dreams! Here’s to a new year and a new you! From Our Family to yours, French Fry Kisses & Ketchup Dreams.  XO

**This is not a sponsored post, and while I usually refrain from mentioning the brand, in this case, credit where credit is due for great things that kids love.  Remember, so many kids think of McDonald’s as a Four-Star Restaurant!