Holiday Fun Series I

Passing on Holiday Traditions

We know, that can be read both ways and that’s OK!

Every family has varying degrees of traditions - some have a very special place in each generation’s heart, some have stood the test of time just for being tradition alone (because that’s the way it’s always been done!) and some that are, honestly, just plain bananas and need to be removed from the yearly list of must-dos! You probably have a perfect example of each one of these.

The beauty of strong holiday traditions is that they make you and your family feel more connected and emotionally closer during the holidays. They instill a sense of belonging and comfort within a family. Whether it’s decorating the tree together the same way each year, opening a special gift on Christmas Eve as a family, or preparing a holiday meal together while using great-grandma’s beautiful dishes every year. These are the traditions that make the holidays feel special from year to year.

Then, there are those traditions that you still do, even though they may feel out-of-date or not applicable any longer. Things like using tinsel on the tree because it’s fun for the kids and you used to do put it on your tree when you were a kid and your parents put it on their tree back in the day, but then you remember that in your household, tinsel on the tree means the cat ends up jumping on said tree to catch a piece of that tempting shiny stringy thingy, and ends up knocking the tree over 4 times a day. Yeesh! Maybe leaving the tinsel off the tree is alright.

AND maybe the most interesting traditions are those that you have no idea why they’re still being used. For instance, why on Earth does someone always bring a fruit cake to holiday dinner? And what are those green things in there?! And how old is that fruit cake anyway? Has it just been regifted over and over again since 1979? One may never know because nobody is going to open that sucker and give it a taste, and there are so many preservatives in those things they could outlast Twinkies, McNuggets and cockroaches!

Not every family has holiday traditions, and sometimes that’s the most fun, because then you get to start your own! As you start your own family and celebrate each year, creating your own yearly traditions along the way, building more and more as time goes on is awesome! You can be the pioneer of family traditions and pass them on to your kids to pass on to theirs.

Whatever your traditions, perhaps the most important is enjoying each moment you’re together as a family during the holidays. We know not every moment is perfect, but even the imperfect times can make for some pretty darn good memories. Having fun, relaxing and taking time to take care of yourself is important and that’s what we’ll be discussing in our next blog.

We look forward to sharing with you some of our favorite ways to destress and unwind in a healthy, productive way during the ever-busy holiday season. Until then, pop a comment below if you can tell us what those NyQuil colored green things in the fruit cake really are.