Friday, November 27, 2009

Traditions...they keep them coming home!

Tis the season for family and traditon..Fa...la la la...la la...la...la!

From the very start of our marriage my husband and I have talked about what traditions we would like to experience in our family. Many traditions are handed down from generation to generation and we would love to hand our childhood traditions down to our kids ...and grandchildren.

 Early on in our marriage, my husband and his brothers would go to his moms on Christmas morning for breakfast...tradition. Baking and decorating sugar cookies with my mom and sisters before Christmas...tradition. When our older kids were younger, my sisters and I would make gingerbread houses with them after the Thanksgiving meal...tradition. Christamas day night at my in laws house, gift giving was a blast(50-60 people in one house). Can I say awesome paper fight?!...tradition. Christmas day morning for the past 10 years we have had a HUGE Christmas morning breakfast...tradition. This is one tradition similar to the one my husband experienced with his family.

Whether your traditions last 3 years or 100 years, having something you do as a family on an ongoing basis, can bring a time of bonding among family members that creates memories for your children and grandchildren. I often find my kids will ask if we can do something that they remember doing the year before. Making memories with my kids is so important. It's those memories that they will someday share with my grandchildren...hence the passing down from generation to generation. Traditions bring stability in a family. In a world where families are moving  from place to place, losing jobs and parents divorcing...kids need something that is familar,something that never changes...the simple little things they can count on to always be. Things that bring memories of a better time and place.

We are always trying new traditions... some stay and some go! As the face of my family changes, so will the many traditions we have. However, I know one that will always keep them coming home...that HUGE Christmas morning breakfast!

Tradition:

1 a : an inherited, established, or customary pattern of thought, action, or behavior (as a religious practice or a social custom) b : a belief or story or a body of beliefs or stories relating to the past that are commonly accepted as historical though not verifiable


2 : the handing down of information, beliefs, and customs by word of mouth or by example from one generation to another without written instruction

3 : cultural continuity in social attitudes, customs, and institutions

4 : characteristic manner, method,

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