Family Holiday Traditions: Fond Memories and New Ones Reimagined
From Thanksgiving through Christmas and New Year’s, we all have our family traditions that we cling to. These traditions add meaning to the holidays and some people look forward to those activities all year round.
For me, the holiday season never begins before Thanksgiving because of our family tradition growing up.
A few days before Thanksgiving, my parents would pack the kids and the car, and then take the 6 hour drive to my dad’s uncle in Vermont. He lived like a hermit in a house on top of the hill in the middle of the woods.
Yes, I know it sounds a little sketchy but stay with me.
We would spend Thanksgiving week, playing outside in the snow, sledding, and building forts. Doing stuff all kids should be doing. Rare was the year without snow. It was great.
The thing I most remember though was the highlight of the trip, cutting our tree. There was no tree farm, no dried out trees on a corner lot. We were literally traipsing through the woods looking for something that somewhat resembled the picture perfect tree. We rarely found a tree worthy of a magazine cover but we always found our tree.
Reflecting on those days, we were probably miserable as we wandered. Wet and tired, we never found our tree quickly. And we probably resembled the Griswalds in “Christmas Vacation”. But this was our family tradition.
There were other traditions as well. The grandkids photo in front of the tree before gifts was another frustrating filled challenge. Today, it’s fun to look back at those photos and watch the family grow. I think the first photo was my brother, myself and our cousin, all of us 3 or 4 years old.
When we stopped taking the photo with our original group, there were 10 grandkids. We were all in our teens. We recently started taking the photo again with my and my sibling’s kids.
We still have traditions we follow each year, but I think these two are my favorite former traditions.
The Pandemic of 2020 will disrupt many family traditions because of the fellowship and gatherings of which we normally partake.
Like so many other things this year, it’s time to reinvigorate or reinvent the way we do things. It’s a great time to create some new family traditions that we can pass along to our children. Time to stop lamenting what we’re missing and start making new memories that we can smile and laugh about when we reminisce.
Here are a few ideas to kick you off. They are all focused on your immediate family unit. Hopefully you are able to slow down this year, smile a little easier, be the family we all want to be.
- Go to the woods and cut your own tree.
- Use the stuff around your home and build your own Menorah, order some wax, candle wicks, and dip your own candles.
- Bake from scratch.
- Hand make your holiday cards.
- Countdown to Christmas with an Advent Calendar or some other way.
- Drive around looking at the lights.
- Make decorating tree an event.
- Pick a holiday movie and watch it every year.
- Have family game nights.
- Read a holiday book with your family.
- Recreate your favorite family activities from years past.
- Make an ornament or decoration each year.
- Do a secret kindness for someone.
This last one is probably my favorite thing on the list because, we are all so public about our lives online. It’s a great way to teach you children to give without recognition. You can pick a family member or work with senior center to identify one or more people who you can support. You can drop a gift or a kind note on their doorstep. Find out about their favorite treat and bake it for them and leave it on the doorstep. Be creative, but the important thing is that the other person’s day is a little bit brighter.
What are your favorite family holiday traditions? How are you changing your plans this year? Share in the comments below.
However you choose to celebrate this year, I hope you begin things that you will be talking about for years to come.