Parit Raja Family traditions play an important part in the dynamic of a family.  Traditions help families commit to spending quality time together.  They also reflect a family’s values and beliefs. Things that you do each year during the holidays with your family, or even throughout the year, create special bonds that can connect one generation to the next.  

Here are some suggestions for some traditions that you can easily do with your family, and they can do with their families, and so on and so forth.

A SPECIAL HOLIDAY MEAL ITEM

For us, on Christmas morning it was always cinnamon rolls fresh out of the oven.  This was something that my grandmother started with her kids and has been going on for decades.  Sometimes it was homemade cinnamon rolls, other times they were popped out of a can and baked, but regardless, they were part of the Christmas celebration each year as we gathered at one home or another.

A SPECIAL TIME OF GIVING THANKS

My aunt started this one, by asking everyone around the table to share what they were thankful for.  It started at a Thanksgiving meal, but then soon became a tradition whenever the family was together for any meal.  Sometimes she would write out bible verses on a card at each place setting and we would go around the table and read those before we said the blessing. Even though we worshiped at different churches, and even different denominations, this tradition highlighted and affirmed the commonality of our faith.

CHRISTMAS LIGHT TOURS

We would always take the time to go around the towns around us and tour the Christmas lights.  This may sound boring or silly, but the time in the car together sometime in the week or two before the holidays became precious.  Especially as the kids got older, and everyone was busy with school and jobs, that hour or two of everyone piled in the car driving around, and looking at lights became very special!  We were all a captive audience, a time of respite from the craziness of the season, where we could relax enough to enjoy the colors and creativity of the season.  As we marveled at the lights, we had the opportunity to slow down for a small fresh breath of connection with each other before the insanity kicked in again! 

SPECIAL ORNAMENTS

This was a tradition that my mom started with us, and we did it with our kids, and they are doing it with their kids. We would let the kids pick out a new ornament each year. Some years they were store-bought, other times they were homemade, but they always reflected something unique about that year. When our daughter participated in her first piano recital it was a little musical ornament. When our son took our dog through obedience classes, it was a puppy ornament.  As the years progressed, our tree became a sweet collection of memories that are stirred up as we decorate the tree each year.  

CHRISTMAS EVE CANDLELIGHT SERVICE

Christmas Eve service at church is a very special tradition.  Being a working mom in the public accounting field, the month of December was always a time of additional client meetings and longer work hours as we prepared for year-end with our business clients.  The Christmas Eve service became sacred to me.  It allowed me to close the door to work and stress and clear my mind for the celebration of the birth of Christ.  I cherish the seasonal hymns, the candlelight, and the way folks “dress up” with a special sweater or scarf, or sparkly jacket, honoring our Savior and the celebration of his birth.  Participation in this service each year most certainly helps to strengthen my spiritual wellness.

If you have not tried to put some traditions on your holiday to-do list, it is never too late.  You can see that all these things I have mentioned are not expensive or even time-consuming, but rather are moments where we can connect with those who are most precious to us. Traditions, especially reviving those things that we did with our parents or grandparents, or even a group of close friends, create for us a sense of comfort and security.  Much like family worship time or making sure that your family can regularly sit down to a meal together, we must treat these moments as sacred and protect them from the unpredictable and chaotic world that we live in.  

I am sure you can think of some simple traditions that your parents or grandparents did with you that can be revived with your own families.  If not, then get creative and poll your family members.  They will certainly have some fun and imaginative ideas for new traditions.