Traditions... Do you have any?

Traditions, that have come down through the family or you have even started with your own, that you hope will carry on long after you are gone....


I am lucky, I come from a very sentimental lot, that believes in traditions and the fact they enrich our lives, not very many are passed down through the family generations, but created in the last few that we hope continue... Some are related to the holidays, some are related to weddings, some are just for the sake of passing down sentimental items...


I was the third generation upon my wedding to receive a very special set of crystal dishes, that had passed from mother to daughter. I have been forever afraid to display them knowing that it was expected they would be passed on to Samantha when she wed's.



Another wedding tradition (which is my favorite) is that the father (or parents) of the bride, gifts the husband their favorite (baby)photograph of the bride, so that the groom will always remember that his bride is also/and will always be someones little girl...


At Christmas each child is given a new Christmas tree ornament, so that when they leave home and have their own first Christmas tree, they already have special ornaments that encompasses all the holidays before... I loved my first tree with all the ornaments my mother had given me... I still love all those ornaments, and I take very special care with the ones I pick for my kids...


The Easter egg hunt, is something my parents created for their grand kids and they take it to the extreme... There are 6 grandchildren and my parents would hide anywhere from 300-400 eggs in this one part of the woods. It is quite amazing to me as an adult to walk into this part of the woods with stuffed animals hanging from the limbs in the trees and the forest floor just covered with Easter egg color everywhere. The last two years they scaled back the number of eggs and for the older children we have started a scavenger hunt, which I have to say we enjoy watching the older ones do, every time they find a clue, us adults that have the master list are ohh and ahhing over whether or not they are heading in the right direction for the clue, usually yelling"no the other way" or "who thought of that stupid clue" (which makes me pipe up and stay "HEY, you want to help with the clues next year, ya I thought so... shut up!)(brothers!). It is one of the things I cant wait to do for my grand kids...


Like I said I am lucky, there are so many I could keep going forever... but I guess I would rather challenge some of you to share your traditions and inspire someone else to start something new in their own families, help enrich something for the future generations... I think our traditions are something that keeps us together, gives us the loving memories that make a family a family...