Our Traditions

The word Tradition is defined by Webster dictionary as, “the transmission of customs or beliefs from generation to generation, or the act of being passed on in this way.”

Growing up I honestly can not remember any real significance put into traditions. It is not something my folks stressed about. And it was not something we looked forward to during the holidays because we did not have anything deeply rooted. Sounds kind of sad when you think about it but at the time I did not know any better.

Every year we seemed to try something new. Maybe we would bake cookies, or make stockings, sometimes we would listen to Christmas music while robotically decorating the tree. My mom had a certain way she wanted things done. But nothing actually stuck. We even experimented with Hispanic traditions. The making of tamales every year for Christmas is one thing I always tried to keep up with. But the hassle of it all deterred my parents from it.

At the end of the day we were just holiday floaters.

Going with the flow of things without a single thought as to why or why not.

It was a hard pill to swallow when I started a family of my own and realized I had nothing solid to pass down to my children. My husband had a plethora of traditions and family recipes to indulge in and there I was wondering what my family’s legacy would be. What would our traditions be and were these things even important?

The answer I came to over and over again is that our traditions could be whatever we want as long as we kept them consistent and yes, they are important. At least to me they are. I did not realize what I was missing out on until I had nothing to fall back on and I would not leave my children with that empty feeling. It seemed as though everyone around me had some guideline for their traditions and it carried so much weight. I wanted that for my family and I was determined to figure it out.

I did not have an outline.

Our traditions were going to be organic and raw. We started slowly and figured out what worked for us. We incorporated my Hispanic background and my husband’s midwestern, homegrown values and came up with some really awesome traditions we still do today. Not in any specific order…

• Making tamales every year the week before Christmas
• Listening to Christmas music while the kids put ornaments wherever they want
• Baking cookies and sending a care package of yumminess to my sister in California
• Driving to see Christmas lights on Christmas Eve
• Having a big family dinner
• Giving new pajamas and a DVD to the kiddos to open before bed on Christmas Eve
• Going to see the Woodland lights
• Reading the birth of Jesus every year with the family
• Making a craft we usually give to a friend or family member

Every family is different and the way they celebrate, too. So maybe growing up nothing was set in stone but maybe, just maybe, that was our tradition after all.