Holiday Traditions

My sister called this week and, as usual, we quickly got into happy memories of growing up. And, as usual, we were kidding each other and laughing until our time ran out. Our parents were great believers in traditions in our family, especially around this time of year. My wife’s parents had few traditions and making memories in this way was not very important to her. I did my best to overcome this.

Actually traditions in my father’s house went back at least another generation. His mother always made oyster stew on Christmas eve, and Küchen, a German sweet bread. My mother carried these on, adding Million Dollar fudge, popcorn balls, and cut glass.  Thanksgiving included the traditional meal including cranberries, pumpkin pie, and I always got one of the drumsticks!

Traditions included more than certain foods. We went shopping with Dad (a rare treat). We also were there to help pick out a tree and to decorate it, though Dad always put the lights on himself because it had to be done just so. We were allowed to put on tinsel as long as we did it one strand at a time! Perhaps you are getting the message, that the entire holiday season to me was more than giving and receiving things. It was a time of warm unity in our family, of love and kindness, of thinking of others. It is now for me a set of wonderful memories.

Some reading this don’t do Christmas, for one reason or another. If not, I encourage you to build your own memories another way. Life can be tough, and too often we remember the traumatic times as if they were the norm. Building good memories will overrule the negative ones so that, as your children look back to these years, they remember growing up as being, for the most part, enjoyable.

One of my most special Christmas presents was from my mother after I was married. It was a large photo album about me. It contained my birth announcement, a bit of hair from my first haircut, all my report cards, pictures through my years of growing up, a few honors I got in high school, a poem I wrote Dad for Father’s Day promising to give him Ukulele lessons, and other things too personal to mention here. She did the same for my brother and sister that year. When I showed it to a friend of ours, she responded, “She must have enjoyed being a mother.” Indeed she did, and she made growing up at home a wonderful memory.

Making memories is Biblical. God told Israel to set aside time each year for seven special observances throughout their history. This idea caught on with them and they have added many more since. What are you doing to write happy memories in your children’s minds, so that, if the Lord tarries His coming, they will also have joy in remembering their times at home?