Family Traditions Old and New
As we are in the midst of the holiday season, traditions often come to mind as we think of celebrating Thanksgiving in the U.S. and Christmas all over the world. As our children were growing up, we had many traditions; however, when they grew up and moved away to start their own families, we broke some of the traditions we had due to distance. My husband and I began a few of our own.
Now that we are back in Arizona with our family and our grandson is living with us now, we are thinking about traditions that we can begin with him as well as our other grandchildren. However, traditions don’t have to be limited to just the end of the year holidays.
The word tradition means to hand over, hand down or transfer. Traditions can be inherited through social or family customs, stories that have been handed down from generations to generations, religious practices, customs or holidays. Even though traditions are most commonly associated with religious and regional holidays, traditions can be any time of year, in any part of the world, and around any event.
Starting traditions is a great way to connect with your grandchildren by creating an event of which they can look forward and remember for many years to come. Here is a list of possible traditions that you can start with your grandchildren.
- Weekly Family Events
- Special Sunday dinner together as a family
- Going to church
- Friday rent a movie and make popcorn at home night
- Saturday Picnic
- Regional or Cultural Events
- Fairs
- Festivals
- Holidays
- Decorating
- Making Crafts
- Cooking Recipes
- Singing Songs
- Family Gatherings
- Social Events
- Parades
- Seasonal (Fall, Winter, Spring and Summer)
- School Activities
- Sporting Events
- Picture Day
- Concerts
- Clubs
- Fundraisers
- Family Vacations
- Household Activities (Yes, even these can be traditional)
- Cleaning
- Organizing
- Yard Sales
- Decorating and Maintenance
Traditions can be created from any idea, event or activity that is repeated over time. You can find that almost every day in the year has some type of tradition that has been carried down as a result of an event in history, somewhere in the world. For a list of unusual holidays that have been created out of traditions, go to http://www.holidayinsights.com/. This website contains a very thorough list of unusual days, major holidays and holidays from around the world. (Today, by the way, is Eat a Cranberry Day and National Cashew Day.) You may be able to use this list to create your own traditions with your grandchildren.
Warm regards,
Kay L. Fontana
“The Grandcoach”
