Part of what makes the holidays so sentimental are the traditions we count on from year to year. We cling to those traditions, because they remind us of the people with whom we formed them and the countless memories we acquired with them. Certain songs, smells, movies, or tastes, connect us to another time in our lives.
And yet as we grow into adults and move away from those traditions, we find ourselves in a unique stage of life.
That is the beautiful place where I, and my husband, find ourselves today. Still newly married, forming our own traditions. The world is full of freedom for thought and it is a wonderful thing to get to start from scratch, searching our own hearts for the significance we want to emphasize or the decorations we want to create. There are always many ways to do things.
And it makes me think further in time still, when I start having children of my own, what lessons do I want to teach them? Will we decorate a tree? Or a branch? Or a ladder? Will we take part in charitable projects or make homemade gifts together? There are many ways to spend the holidays and traditions shape our values as children and our memories. In the same way that the scent of biscuits and gravy make me think of Christmas with my dad, maybe canned goods for the food bank or the smell of a hot glue gun can be my future.
This doesn’t only apply to the holidays either. I saw a cute picture in the yoga journal recently. A mother in her yoga pose and her small, daughter beside her, engaging in the practice with interest.
What traditions do you have with your family? This extends outside of the holidays too. What habits do you want to incorporate into your family?
