Celebrating Family
Having grown up with different traditions than my husband, one of the challenges was how we would blend our favorite holiday memories as well as create our own. Fortunately, we both love good food and enjoy spending time with family and friends. That has allowed us make the holidays our own. And now that we have kids, the holidays have taken on more meaning, and my focus is now on creating traditions that will create life-long memories for them.
Having family traditions and passing them on to our kids is important to continuing that family bond and preserving our heritage. But with the stress of the holidays, it can be easy to collapse at the end of the day or make excuses for not dragging out all the decorations and memorabilia that make the holidays special. And as times change, what was once quaint and special may now feel outdated or boring.
3 Ways To Make Family Traditions a Part of Every Celebration:
- Involve the kids – young kids who are part of the process of making the memories will be more engaged and will look forward to the activities each year. Adapt the tradition as they grow to keep it relevant and interesting to them.
- Keep things simple and doable – know your limitations and embrace what you can do. It’s better to do a few things consistently than be frustrated because you can’t do it all perfectly.
- Share with others – holiday traditions are wonderful to share with friends and help our kids appreciate how special and unique they are. Even more important is to learn how other families make the celebration important and meaningful for their family.
No matter how small or big, family traditions give us a sense of belonging, create happy memories and teach our kids the important values we have as a family.
One lucky reader can win a Once Upon a Family Leather Brag Book. Comment below what family traditions are you passing on to your children. “Like” Real Posh Mom Facebook Page. You can also enter by tweeting: “Enter to win a @OUAFtweets Brag Book from @realposhmom #giveaway” The giveaway ends on January 4, 2012.
Jennifer
Wife. Mom. Editor. Host. Speaker. Culinary Explorer. Fashionista. Altruist. Persuader. Coffee Aficionado. Arachnophobic.
3 Comments
Daniel
My wife & I are all about passing on traditions for our kids. The holidays get so crammed with events that it becomes difficult to know what to do and what to skip. One thing we do in particular is celebrate St. Nicholas Day (Dec 6). We do our stocking exchange on this day instead of the 25th. This helps the 25th be a little more low key for the family & (guilty admission) helps us as parents to distribute our gift giving energies. It’s nice not to have to get so much together all at the same time. Celebrating this way also allows us to talk with our kids about the actual St. Nicholas, lifting up all the positive qualities of this that let to the jolly Santa. On Christmas Day, we have more time to be with family and talk about the original Christmas story. It can be hard to strike a balance between giving great gifts but also telling our kids Christmas isn’t just about gifts. This is how our family has decided to celebrate.
Trace
Every year, my mom makes like, 15 different kinds of Christmas cookies. So many of us look forward to it, and baking is her way of de-stressing. I fully intend to pick this up and pass the tradition on to our daughter!
Jennifer B
Love your traditions! It was is what makes the holidays so special 🙂 I hope your family has a great New Year!!!