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When I think of traditions, my mind immediately goes to the song from Fiddler on the Roof and I hear Tevye singing in his booming voice. Ahhhh, tradition!
Admittedly, tradition isn’t nearly as prevalent in my own life as it was to the Jews of Anatevka. are a key part of many families, and in our family, holiday traditions are important. We host an annual 4th of July BBQ, turkey must be eaten on Thanksgiving and birthdays are a big deal.
This is our first Christmas with Reagan. And although I know she won’t remember it, my husband and I are in the throes of making lots of “tradition” decisions – traditions will we keep, traditions we will let go, new traditions to start. There are a lot of decisions.
Hello darling, welcome to being the parent.
In my husband’s family they always opened stocking stuffers before breakfast on Christmas morning – keep! My family always ordered pizza for Christmas Eve… and we’ll probably let this one go (at least on the years we aren’t with my family for Christmas). Both families allowed the kids to open one present on Christmas Eve – we’re keeping that one but making it our own by calling it the Christmas Eve Box.
Some of the traditions we start this year will last for years, and some will probably be dropped as Reagan gets older. Plus, we hope to have more children who will inevitably help shape who we are as a family, and what our Christmas looks like.
are important and as much as I love tradition, I never want our traditions to become more important than our family itself. I want to be flexibility in how we celebrate so that everyone can feel like they are a part. (What if Reagan is gluten-intolerant and can’t eat pizza, or what if my husband gets a job that requires him to work on Christmas day?)
Ultimately, we want to be intentional in keeping the focus of the season on Jesus’, so attending church on Christmas Eve is important to us, as well as reading the nativity story from the Bible (Luke 2:1-20). Because, really, that’s what Christmas is about, and what truly bonds our family together.