I love the holidays and with that comes the things that are family traditions. When the kids were little would bake a cake for baby Jesus to celebrate his birthday. We were never religious in our home but I did want them to understand what we were suppose to be celebrating. They were thrilled as they decorated it and got to eat it first thing on Christmas morning. We also always left money for Santa with his snack to help him buy presents for other children the next year. We always did the angel tree with them and they would pick off angels and pick out what they wanted to buy those children. The kids from birth had a special ornament each year to hang on the tree that reflected something that was special to them that year. We still do it and our tree is personal to us. Each year we decorate it they talk about the story of their decorations. What are some of your family traditions?
I can't really think of any but yours sound really sweet. I'm thinking of adopting some. I have a new year's tradition but none for the rest of the season. Well, we do a lot of yoga leading up to the solstice and have a meditation and vision-boarding session on the solstice...but that's mostly just me.
every year my huge extended family gathers at my great aunt's house for Christmas Eve. it is the only time of year I see many of them. She is the matriarch of the family and probably will not be able to host the event within the next few years as she had to have surgery last year and her health has been steadily declining since. It makes me sad because she's an amazing woman and also because I doubt anyone else will carry on the tradition. We always do a secret santa gift exchange after dinner and then she sends everyone home with a brown paper bag full of home baked goodies. My immediate family always gathers at my mom's after we leave to drink wine and eat all the sweets she baked us.
Lol @ not believing in traditions. "I shower and brush my teeth every day" Oh sorry that sounds like a tradition, I don't believe in looking after myself.
Don't Have Any Since Mom Died, The Only Tradition This Family Has Had In The Last 13 Years Is My Brothers Constant Harrasment Of Me Both Physcially And Through The Court System, And Over This Time He Has Achieved Nothing, Because The Only Problem Was In His Head And He Steadfastly Refused Any Medical Treatment.... That Sound You Hear Is Our Parents Rolling In Their Respective Graves.... Cheers Glen.
Maybe he doesn't do it in traditional ways, but for example he uses eggwhite to wash his armpits and chews on the root of a certain tropical tree to keep his teeth in shape and his breath clean.
As our family has changed through the years the traditions have too. For the past 7 years my family comes to my house Christmas eve. 26 of them anyway, not all of my immediate family. I have 73 immediate family members (siblings, nieces, nephews and their kids) Its crazy. So 26 come to my house and I make home made noodles and we have chicken and noodles and open presents. Christmas day we go to my in laws house. There are only 7 of us there and we sit around in our pajamas all day. Open presents, eat, nap, watch movies, eat some more, nap some more, etc.
the holiday tradition of my family growing up, was to never celebrate the day itself, any of them, on the same day as everyone else. this is because my dad worked for the railroad, and, because it was something that had to go on 24-7-365, rain snow sun, whatever, you worked the same 5 days with the same two assigned rest days, whatever else was happening elsewhere in the world. that meant like if you worked second shift your days off might typically be tuesday and wednesday. which i thought was really cool. and if one of those official national holidays fell on one of your regular work days, five out of seven chances that it would, that meant you got paid double time and a half for working it. so our tradition was we would have, whatever the big deal about a particular day might be, we'd do that on which ever of his days off came closest, instead of on the day itself.
currently, i don't think we have any real traditions. other than i spend the day with my parents. i suppose i take a walk with my mom every time i go down there to visit. that's kind of traditional. the most recent "holiday tradition" i can think of is my dad waking me up way too early every christmas morning because he's all eager to open presents like the stereotypical kid. every holiday?
our traditions consist of buying useless shit for each other...then enjoying the peace before the visits begin...then we eat...then we wait for the visitors to bug off and were happy to be back to quiet then it starts all over next year
I've been taking my daughters to see the Cabazon dinosaurs on christmas the past two years and it looks like we'll be doing that again this year. I don't remember any traditions while growing up. The thing I do remember is my brothers being pretty bad kids and opening all the gifts under the tree then re-wrapping them. My parents never caught on..
Nice to hear about other's traditions. Ours have also changed a bit through the years as they no longer bake the cake. The rest have still stayed though and I love those. I am sorry if this thread brought up any bad memories for some. With that I hope that new memories are in the making and they will help to replace those we would rather forget.
My family has fallen apart and with it so has all of our traditions. If all of us were in the same room at the same time it would not be a joyous occasion by any means. I'll be working Christmas Eve, (triple time biatch) and I'll spend Christmas evening getting blind drunk with my sister.
