Twenty-Six Lists - It's A Family Tradition

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Welcome to Twenty-Six Lists! I hope you'll join me in this simple link-up, where I share a writing prompt for some kind of list, and invite you to share what's on your list. Your list can be very simple or include lots of explanation; short or long; a bullet point list or essay style. Interpret the list prompts however you like, depending on how much time you have to spend, and how much background you'd like to share. 

The list I was planning for this week is all about family traditions. It's so interesting to see the personalized twist that different families put on their celebrations, or the things that have become beloved traditions with loved ones. Some are very meaningful and some are just silly and fun. They can be elaborate customs we have for celebrating holidays or simple everyday rituals like bedtime stories or a special table grace.  Many people don't realize they've developed their own family traditions, or think their traditions are really no different from what everyone else does. But really, any custom that we carry over from our family or make a part of our family because it's what we want our family to become - that's a family tradition. 

The first time I wrote this list quite a few years ago, I organized the things I considered our family traditions around the occasions and calendar that the traditions were related to, so I'm updating that list and modifying it a bit here. I can't wait to read about other family traditions!

Our Family Traditions:

• Birthdays - One of our birthday traditions goes back to some point during my on teen years, when my siblings and I started purposely butchering the "Happy Birthday" song for each other. That eventually became a tradition for our entire extended family - my parents and my siblings and their families. We used to phone the birthday celebrant, gather around the phone and put it on speaker (we've made a video once or twice), and the whole family attempts to sing the most horrendous version of the birthday song that we can. We do awful "harmonies" and sing at all different tempos and times, and try to make each rendition more hilariously ugly than the last. This very silly tradition seems to be a favorite and keeps us all laughing! 
• School and Graduations - Even though we homeschooled, I did try to get "first day of school" photos each year. The boys were not always co-operative, and I didn't always get the photos, but I tried. For high school graduation, we allowed the graduate to choose the destination for that summer's family vacation. Harrison took us all to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Cedar Point. Spencer wanted to visit my family in Alberta and we added a few days at Glacier National Park and some other attractions in the area as well. Landon wanted to go back to Cedar Point, and also attend baseball games, so we saw games in Columbus, Cleveland, Pittsburgh, and Toronto. Kennady wanted to visit conservatories so we visited the Franklin Conservatory in Columbus, the Phipps in Pittsburgh, and made day trips to Longwood Gardens, the Botanical Gardens in DC, and the conservatory in Baltimore. My posts The Summer of Landon and Homeschool Highlights - The Week With Conservatories over on Homeschool Coffee Break summarize Landon's and Kennady's grad year vacations.

 

• Thanksgiving - we celebrate Thanksgiving on both the Canadian and the US dates, and usually there's a deep-fried turkey on at least one of those occasions. As the kids got older and found Significant Others, we found that it was easier to allow them to spend Thanksgiving with their "other" family if we made our family's big day in October. The last few years I've also tried to invite friends to celebrate Canadian Thanksgiving with us and honor the history of the Order of Good Cheer. 
• Another tradition that began in my childhood is a family picture at the dinner table (definitely at Thanksgiving, but often at Christmas as well) with a goofy twist! When I was a kid my mom tried to get pictures of everyone at the dinner table on holidays, and we kids would always try to "ruin" it by freezing with a forkful of food halfway into our mouth, or with a drinking glass to our lips. At first Mom was frustrated with us, but the pictures turned out so funny that it became a traditional holiday picture pose, and now my own family does it enthusiastically.











• Christmas - some of these traditions have been changing as the kids became adults, but my husband and I still like to watch A Christmas Carol (the Alistair Sim version) on Christmas Eve, and It's A Wonderful Life on Christmas Day. As a family w used to try to watch Christmas movies and specials together throughout the season, and it was kind of special because we didn't watch TV as a family much during the rest of the year. When it comes to decorating, we start decorating for Christmas on Thanksgiving, and I insist on keeping the tree up until Epiphany.

Other Traditions:

• we have a family Stanley Cup play-off pool.
• we share musical interests and we used to attend concert festivals such as Kingom Bound or UpRise together, and have gone to other concerts as a family as well. Obviously, as we've grown and spread out, we don't do that as often. For many years, our family was the core of one of the worship teams at our church, so playing music together was a family tradition too. Now that my husband and I have moved, Kennady and Landon continue heading up the worship team at their church, with Spencer as the sound tech, and my husband and I are now involved on the worship team at our church. It's a real treat for us to play with our kids sometimes when we go to Maryland for a visit, like this past Memorial Day weekend.
• family dinner was a standard in our family. Believe it or not, even when we had four young adults living at home, and everyon had their own work and school schedules and social lives, eating dinner as family still happened with great regularity. It was an almost daily custom and a simple thing that I cherished. Gathering around the table is a time-honored custom of fellowship and togetherness, and it can really bond a family. It was our privilege to also welcome 'auxiliary kids' to our family mealtimes regularly and consider them part of our family. Even our simple "Bye! Love you!" as someone headed out the door became a sort of parting blessing for all of us. 

We build deep and loving family relationships by doing simple things together, like family dinner and family home evening and by just having fun together. ~Dieter F. Uchtdorf

What family traditions are meaningful to you? Please share.

The link-up is open for two weeks, with a new prompt every other Tuesday. 

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If you'd like to think further ahead, you can find the list of all prompts for the 2024 Edition of Twenty-Six Lists on A Fresh Cup of Coffee here: Twenty-Six Lists - Accomplishments and Goals

Bonus List: The next few list prompts so you can think ahead!

June 11 - Summery Menu

June 25 - To See or Do in Your Hometown

July 9 - Vacation Destinations

July 23 - Sports

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