Holiday Traditions!

Family & Parenting, Food & Entertaining, Parenting, The Holidays

The holidays mean many different things to different people. The one thing that everyone has in common are traditions.

For most people, the holidays bring a combination of joy, stress, and sorrow. It’s a time when families come together even if they don’t seem to acknowledge each other’s existence for the rest of the year. It’s a time of giving and of remembrance. It’s a time for love.

In this post, I’ll discuss how important family holiday traditions are, some common ones, and how to make your own family traditions that will provide memories for your entire family for years to come.

The Importance of Tradition

According to Merriam-Webster, the definition of tradition is an inherited, established, or customary pattern of thought, action, or behavior. For many families, their strongest traditions are tied to the holiday season.

Traditions do several things for people and families.

Help families bond and bridge the gap between generations.
Create lasting memories which can help people remember loved ones that have since passed.
A source of security even in the most uncertain of times.
Give everyone something positive to look forward to.
A great way to pass along beliefs and values.
Help give people a sense of identity and a feeling of belonging.

Common Holiday Traditions in the States and Around the World

No matter which holidays you celebrate, chances are you have some of the same traditions as everyone else.

One of the biggest traditions both in the states and worldwide is getting together to bake or cook specific holiday dishes. Here, Christmas cookies and candy have been bringing families together for ages. Many families feel the holidays aren’t complete without specific recipes passed down through the generations. Along with sweets, drinks such as eggnog and hot chocolate are popular as are traditional dishes like ham, latkes, and mashed potatoes.

Some other common US traditions include:

Pumpkin everything starting in October
Black Friday
Decorating the house
Watching Christmas/seasonal movies
Going to look at all the lights
Taking family pictures
Sending cards to family and friends
Pickle ornaments (No, it’s not really a German tradition but that sounds pretty good!)
Giving gifts
Donating to charities and volunteering
Santa Claus and the NORAD Santa Tracker
Watching the ball drop in New York on New Year’s Eve

Some holiday traditions from around the world:

India: Diwali, a 5 day celebration, is observed by Hindus with lots of light from candles to fireworks.
Italy: La Befana is a kind witch who brings presents to kids on January 6th. Parents leave out broccoli, spiced sausage, and wine the night before as an offering.
Greece: Christmas boats decked out in lights can be found in the water and in prominent places on land. This is a nod to the maritime culture and St. Nicholas who is considered the patron saint of sailors.
Philippines: Simbang Gabi is celebrated by Catholics by going to a predawn mass for the 9 days before Christmas. Filipinos also put up their trees in September and keep them up through all the “ber months” (September, October, November, and December).
Germany: Around Germany, Christmas markets pop up with vendors and entertainment. The markets are a great place to spend time with family, get into the holiday spirit, and pick up unique gifts for family and friends.
Bahamas: Junkanoo is celebrated on December 26th and January 1st with a street festival including lots of dancers and elaborate costumes. Traditional drumming, cowbells, and whistles play for more than 24 hours to keep the party lively.
Spain: Three Kings’ Day is celebrated on January 6th with grand parades and roscon de reyes, a traditional pastry that symbolizes a king’s crown. In the pastry are a figurine and a bean. Whoever finds the figure is treated as royalty while the finder of the bean has to purchase the pastry next year.
Wales: Mari Lwyd is celebrated between Christmas through the end of January. Someone dresses up as a horse with an actual horse skull and with a group, they go caroling in exchange for food and drink. This tradition is meant to bring luck.
Ukraine: Spiders are a sign of good luck and are commonly used in decorating the tree during the holidays. The tradition goes back to a folktale about a poor family who couldn’t afford to decorate their tree but when they woke on Christmas morning, they found spiders had decorated the tree with their webs.
Peru: During the month of December, social gatherings called chocolatadas are held. Hot chocolate and panetón are offered while people spend time together. In poor communities, churches will host and hand out donated gifts to the families.
Sweden: Swedes know how to build up the anticipation and you’ll commonly find 4 candles in their homes during the holidays. The first is lit on Advent Sunday (4 Sundays before Christmas) with an additional one lit each Sunday leading up to Christmas. On Christmas Eve, after sundown, everyone opens their gifts. Even Santa’s gifts are left under the tree.
Norway: St. Lucia’s Day is celebrated on December 13th with processions led by a young girl dressed in a white robe, a crown of lights, and holding a candle in front of her symbolizing Lucia bringing light and hope during the longest night of the year. This is the start of the holiday season and is also celebrated in Sweden and parts of Finland.
Belize: Midnight mass is a common tradition to the mostly Christian population in Belize. Dressed in their finest, families head to church to welcome in Christmas day with singing and prayer.
Japan: Most Japanese don’t celebrate Christmas but still think of it as a season to spread happiness. Christmas Eve is a romantic holiday for couples and on Christmas Day, many families eat KFC fried chicken. That tradition started in 1974 with an ad campaign by KFC for “Kentucky for Christmas!”

Establishing Your Own Family Holiday Traditions

While many families already have a full set of holiday traditions, most find themselves needing to figure out how to merge traditions as people get married. Blended families can find it downright difficult to establish traditions that carry through the years due to varied schedules and wanting to include everyone.

If you’re having trouble finding time or ideas for traditions you want to carry on, it pays to sit down and write things out. Include your spouse and kids in this activity. Things you may not think of or consider important may be something that they feel is crucial. Once you have them down on paper, start organizing them with a timeline. If you find there are too many for say Christmas day, prioritize and maybe move some to Christmas Eve or the week before.

When I got married, I had to adapt to my in-laws’ traditions since we didn’t get the chance to see my family for the holidays due to my job and distance. Even so, I chose to continue the tradition of cookie baking. Growing up, cookies and baking were central to my family’s holidays. My grandmother was an amazing baker and would always make a large variety of cookies for everyone. I’d look forward to getting the shirt box (yes, those free white shirt boxes from department stores are what she used) and grabbing my favorites.

As my stepdaughters grew older, they wanted to be involved in the cookie baking and such. Now that they are adults, we have changed the tradition to include some of their girlfriends and the whole family. On one of the weekends before Christmas, they have their friends come over with their favorite family cookie recipes and spend the weekend sleeping over, baking Christmas cookies, and making memories. As a family, we also get together one weekend and bake our family favorites together while talking and catching up with each other.

Here is an example of some of our family traditions and how we plan things out to fit it all in as a blended family:

All Season Long: Baking Christmas cookies, drinking homemade hot chocolate, trying new international foods, singing Christmas songs loudly in the car, watching Christmas movies (Die Hard included!), and sharing memories.
Thanksgiving Day: Watch the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, decorate the tree together, and decorate the house.
During December: Make homemade gifts, take family Christmas photo, fill out and send Christmas cards, choose and donate toys to charity (everyone is responsible for picking one out before any other Christmas shopping to put charity and others first), wrap gifts, and mail out Christmas cookies to friends.
Week Before Christmas: Decorate gingerbread houses, see the local light display in the park, and seeing Santa. Even when the girls were “too old” to see Santa, I still enjoyed going to see him and say hi.
Christmas Eve: Playing games together, reading The Night Before Christmas, and leaving cookies, milk, and carrots out for Santa and his reindeer. Any last minute gifts get wrapped and the house setup for hosting the next day.
Christmas Day: In the morning, we celebrate Dominic’s birthday with cake and party pancakes (pancakes with whipped cream and sprinkles). As everyone arrives, we try to take pictures, eat Christmas dinner together at 1 PM, open presents, and eat Christmas cookies and candies while socializing or playing games.
December 26th: Writing Thank You notes for any gifts received from family who we weren’t able to thank in person. It’s old-fashioned but a good reminder to be thankful for everything you receive.

Conclusion:

Holiday traditions are an important part of every family and while they may change over time, they are still integral to the holiday season. Don’t be afraid to rearrange or even create new traditions for your family. As long as everyone is enjoying them, that is the most important part.

What are some of your most cherished holiday traditions? Feel free to post them below. You never know who you may inspire!