Keeping Holiday Traditions

Get your Fiddler on the Roof voice ready and boisterously belt it out with me…TRADI-----TION. Didn't that just feel right? It's probably because traditions just feel right. Thinking of your childhood holidays, your favorite dinner at home, or what you do for your birthday each year can calm your nerves and ground your thinking when things get crazy. But how did your childhood traditions get started? Were they really passed down for generations and generations or were they activities that your grandparents and parents came up with to pass time with their kids off from school? Have any of those traditions faded as you got older? It's time to take them back!

I know that it's been a few weeks since Christmas, but I think it is important to recognize the traditions we kept and left behind this past year. It's time to consider what we want our traditions to be in years to come. Michael and I take family traditions pretty seriously and are excited to build more of own. We've been fortunate to get started together over the past few years.

We spend an evening at the orchestra, getting in the holiday spirit.

We make gingerbread cookies at my parents' house on Christmas Eve.

We go to Christmas Eve Mass and try to find a balance of time between our families' festivities.

We pick our REAL Christmas tree the weekend after Thanksgiving. In the city, that means we grab a pre-cut tree at the hardware store. But we decorate with ornaments from our families. 

We donate to the Christmas giving tree at our church.

This year we added a holiday party to our season, the weekend before Christmas to celebrate with our friends.

Simplicity is the key to sustainability when it comes to keeping our traditions. We leave room for flexibility and growth, but still base our holiday season around these activities. How do you keep your traditions? What traditions do you hope to keep over the years to come?

…TRADITION!

…it was a horse.