I LOVE family traditions! What are they? They’re fun or endearing things you do with your family on a consistent basis whether it’s once a year or once a week. It can be something special that you do each season, like going to the pumpkin patch or picking out a Christmas tree. It could be something simple that you do every day like having supper around the table at night and ringing an old cowbell to let your darlin’s know it’s time to “come ‘n’ get it!”. A family tradition can be planning a family fun night where you play games or watch a movie munching on popcorn. Or lighting a fire in the fireplace and sipping hot chocolate on the first cold day of fall. Tucking your kids into their cozy beds with a bedtime story and prayers then whispering “sweet dreams! I love you!”, as you turn out the light, is such a simple tradition yet so significant. All of these moments will warm the hearts of your children throughout their whole life!
Family traditions require time and commitment but the payoff is priceless! They are keys to family happiness!
Here are my 5 top reasons why I think Fun Family Traditions are so important:
1. Family traditions give us a sense of belonging. It’s this delicious and cozy feeling that fills your heart with a warm and comforting thought; this is my family, I belong to them, they belong to me and I’m loved. Every child deserves to feel this.
When my kids were little, Saturday was “family day”. It became our tradition to go for a drive in the country or collect shells on the beach, or just to get an ice cream cone. Saturday’s meant spending time together having fun. Another tradition we had was if my husband or I noticed the sunset was unusually gorgeous we would round up all the kids throughout the house and say “Come see! Come see! God painted a beautiful picture in the sky!” We would run outside, look up into the glorious heavens and marvel with words like “Wow!! Look at the colors! So beautiful!”. Then we gave God a round of applause for creating such indescribable beauty for us. I love remembering my little family standing outside clapping and saying “Yay! Jesus!” Think about the significant effect this had on my kids.
2. Family Traditions create happy memories that will last a lifetime. These memories will be what shapes, strengthens and comforts each member of your family. They’ll draw goodness from these experiences which will fortify them throughout the happy and difficult times of their life.
Just recently my oldest son Dusty told me that when he was little, he would get so excited when he came home from school and saw that I had started decorating for Christmas. His eyes would light up and a smile spread across his face as he opened the front door and saw the staircase railing draped with garland and twinkling lights. That was a thrilling signal to him that Christmas was coming! Instant joy! He still treasures that memory! Decorating for the seasons, as you probably know by now, is one of our family traditions…something that was passed down to me from my mother.
When I was growing up my dad always made pancakes for breakfast every Saturday and Sunday morning. I loved waking up to the aromas of those sweet flapjacks and maple syrup mingled with the scent of fresh percolated coffee.
3. Family Traditions create a close family bond. Spending time together, laughing, talking and having fun will draw the family closer together. Children feel a sense of safety and closeness when the family experience is positive and nurturing. Doing fun things together on a regular basis is so important to the well being of your family. It seems to be even more crucial today with all of the modern modes of communication and entertainment…the internet, texting, video games,etc., all of which can cause the family to drift apart and become separate if we’re not careful to create boundaries.
I have a friend that lives far away from her daughter. They have a special tradition every Saturday morning. At 10am they both pour a fresh cup of coffee, sit down at their own kitchen tables and then call each other to have a heartfelt, mother-daughter chat. So sweet!
4. Family traditions give your family something to look forward to. There’s this giddy feeling that comes over children when they know something fun is going to happen. When I was a child we would go to my Grandma and Grandpa Cannizzaro’s house for dinner after church on Sundays. When it got close to Sunday I would get so excited because it meant I got to play with all of my many cousins, eat the most amazing Spaghetti with meatballs (my grandparents were from Italy, so it was the real deal!) and enjoy all the homemade Italian cookies I could eat! I’m still savoring those memories! (And getting hungry!)
5. Family traditions can fill the hearts of our children with goodness. Taking time to do fun traditions sends a message to our loved ones, that our family is valuable. Traditions can also provide hundreds of opportunities to instill wholesome morals and values into our kids. There’s time to talk about life and how our kids are feeling. Time to be emotionally and physically available. And it’s a perfect time to tell our kids how proud of them we are. Time to teach manners. Time to give lots of hugs and pats on the back.
We as parents and grandparents can create our own family culture by making sure we show by example how to keep a good attitude when things don’t go as planned, to be compassionate when someone is hurting, and to live the Golden Rule… “Do for other’s what you would like them to do for you”. Time together can also allow us to say the words ‘I’m sorry” when we’ve overreacted. Family traditions teach our children what is important in life.
“Fix these words of mine in your hearts and minds; tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Teach them to your children, talking about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.”
Deuteronomy 11:18,19
As the years go by, and our children grow up or loved ones move away, our traditions may change. It’s important to be flexible and to create new traditions.We need to make sure that our family traditions are positive ones that will bring happy memories. As the upcoming holidays approach, I hope that you plan some fun family traditions, for they will become the memories that will warm the hearts of you and your loved ones for years to come! I hope you enjoyed this photo collage of my family’s fun tradition at the pumpkin patch!
I’d love to hear about a family tradition that you do with your family!
Sending you sugar and hugs!
Aunt Ruthie
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Hi darlin! Wow weeeeee those lil sugar pies are growin like weeds! Oh how beautiful are those babies! I miss you so much dear sweet friend…God Bless ya sugar… Let’s have a nice long chat real soon! Love ya doll! Cat~
What a sweet, adorable family! Such a blessing! Our little family (my husband, daughter and I) grab a pizza, set out on the road, and spend an evening driving around looking at Christmas lights (usually a couple of weeks before Christmas). It’s so fun to watch her little eyes light up when she sees them – precious memories! I love good family traditions… they give your family something to cherish – something that others aren’t a part of, it’s all for them. Love all of your reasons you listed!
Oh my ! I’m so so glad to read a new post from you ! it makes my day !
And what a wonderful post it is ! you always have good and sweet words : you and your family are so good persons… think you are an example for all of us ! I agree : memories are the best wealth of a family and we have to preserve that….
ps : you are a so nice mama and grandma that it’s always a pleasure to see you on your pics….
I so agree with you Ruth Ann ~ our family traditions are the glue that holds our families together, and make us ~ US! As grandma now to 5 I am always thinking of “making memories” with my grands. The holiday season is approaching and it is a time of special memory making, annual St. Nicholas tea party with my grand girls, and fun peppermint party with my boys. We have a Christmas sleepover and on and on.
Your day at the patch looks like you all had the best time ~ and a beautiful day to boot!
Happy Thanksgiving to your family. {I know you eat surrounded by twinkling lights as we do:-) }
I enjoyed this post so much this morning. We too have many family traditions and since Thanksgiving is right around the corner I would like to share what my Husband’s family does each year. We all gather together, the grandparents, parents, grandchildren and great-grands (which are still coming every year in birth) for dinner. We all pitch in a cook. There are around 40 of us now. Before the meal we all gather in a circle…young and old and each person takes a turn sharing what they are most thankful for this year. It truly becomes a time of laughter as we hear the little ones say things such as, “I am thankful for my dog” to hearing my Fatherinlove say, “I am so thankful for my family and another year to be here with you all”. We eat, fellowship, play and usually end our evening with pie and coffee with conversation on “what’s our plans for Christmas”. Thanksgiving is my husbands favorite time of year as he says, “No one really expects anything from you except your presence! Thanks for letting me share and God bless. Hugs and blessings Cindy
Oh Dear Auntie Ruth what an inspiration you are. It is wonderful of you and your family to allow us to watch those grandbabies grow. We have many small family traditions but the one most remembered is always hunting weekend in Minnesota my kids and grandkids come ofter a long cold day of hunting and want Potatoe dumplings. Saturday my youngest grandson called me panic stricken he had forgotten to remind me its time for Potatoe Dumplings..It was fun to tell him that I had his back and was already making the preperations..You could here the relief in his voice..
Simply beautiful photos!!
I agree, you suggest many a wonderful sentiment here about traditions!. Even very small things can be a tradition, and aside from the big ones everyone looked forward to, I recall that my youngest son and I always picked out a pumpkin together, and we always told earch other when we saw the first robin of spring, or try to see that first one together! Small, but memorable and special. Now I make special times for my grandsons. For Halloween, we take one night and I pick them up at first dusk, we drive all over the city to look at the spooky displays families have put out for such, and we have our favorites! Then for Trick or treating, they go to these houses, and get appropriatly scared for 4 and 6 years old! For Christmas, I pick them up again, they are bundled up, and I cover each with a blanket, and they have a favorite stuffed animal …we go around to view the houses Christmas ligths and displays, and stop for a treat at a cafe. Just simple but they will remember it (I hope).
We have many family traditions, but the one I’d like to share with you began when our son was in the Army and stationed overseas. On Christmas Eve, at midnight his time, we would both enjoy a cup of orange spice tea (his favorite!) together. We would think about Christmas’s past, family traditions, etc. It warmed my heart knowing he was with me for that brief time. I must admit there were many tears on my part, especially when he was in a war zone. But the time spent together, however brief, was SO good. Now that he’s safely home, we’ve continued our tradition at midnight on Christmas Eve.
Just wanted to add an encouragement to those who have lacked in the “family tradition” department. Children are quick to latch on to something as a family tradition, so don’t be afraid to start something new.
I remember when our children were very small one new year’s eve. We decided to wake them at midnight for fun. I made a chocolate chip cake for the “celebration”.
The very next year was when we started our current tradition of doing root beer floats at midnight (which we have done for at least 14 years now) what I recall that first year was a comment from one of the children saying that our “tradition” was ALWAYS that we had chocolate chip cake at midnight. So they pick up those fun things quick!
My favorite tradition right now is that we have an Italian Feast the day before Chritmas Eve. We used to go to Maggianos for Christmas Eve, but now we live more out in the country, not close to Maggianos. We have duplicated all of the fun dishes that we used to eat there and my oldest son and I are the main cooks :)
Since we are doing more work for the event (and loving every bit of it), we moved the day to the 23rd so it doesn’t conflict with Christmas Eve service.
LOVELY POST, and an encouragement to add some new traditions. Thank you!
This has to be one of my favorite posts! I read a book by Gloria Gaither and Ms. Dobson on traditions when my children were young. So important. Such lovely photos of you and your family. Do you know, I’ve never been to a pumpkin patch or corn maze? *sshh*
Hey there, Aunt Ruthie! We have “family fun day” on Saturdays here, too. Usually, a daytrip to one of the many, neat little towns around the KC Metro. One of my favorite yearly traditions, is to go to “Christmas in the Sky” on Thanksgiving eve. This a fireworks display over Longview lake set to Christmas music, it is supported by local businesses and a radio station. It is so fun to head over there, snuggle up in warm clothes and blankets, while listening to all the radios, tuned in to the same station, blaring Christmas music synchronized to fireworks. Awesome. Thanks for your site, it is inspiring.
We have 3 grown sons, but our very first Christmas with kids, our twins were 7 months old. On Christmas Eve I always bake a cake and on Christmas morning, before any gifts are opened, one of three boys, they all 3 take turns, gets baby Jesus out of the nativity set and we all sing happy birthday to Jesus. Then we open gifts and have a big piece of Jesus’ birthday cake for breakfast. Even though a few kids have moved out, I still make the cake. Now my twin sons both became father’s this year, at the same time, 3 weeks apart, so I’m hoping that this tradition continues!!!
Aaahhhhwww aunt Ruthie, your family is too cute! I just love ya guys! Summer Rose is such a pretty young lady and baby Polly June is a doll; they’ve both grown so much. Where has the time gone?….. Anyhow. My family has lots of little traditions that I just love. As a little girl my favorite was Saturday dinners at my grandparents house. Now that I am grown it has to be our big Saturday breakfasts….. Oh, and just in case you don’t post again before the month is up, I would just like to wish you and your family and Happy Thanksgiving! Also, Happy Veterans Day and God Bless! <3
Love this post Aunt Ruthie! We are in a transition in our family and thinking how we can still adhere to our traditions.
I enjoyed reading your post so very much and seeing pictures of your beautiful family. One of our family traditions is to have a family get together the first Sunday of August each year. To see how many of the 6 brothers and 4 sisters will be there with our extended families. Last year we were missing one sister, but everyone else was there. Family is very special because you never know when it will change. My daughter and daughter in law take turns having the family at Thanksgiving and Christmas. I just get told to be there since my hubby is in a nursing home and has been for over a year now. I spend time both their homes and the nursing home on each holiday. I am the only grandmother that my oldest two grandsons have living so I try to spend time with them and the youngest one. The youngest helped take care of me when I had my cataract surgery. They are truly amazing. Have a wonderful week. Hugs and Prayers from NW Missouri Friend.
I love your post today regarding Family Traditions and the Holidays. Lots of fun memories come to mind during this season. We look forward to reading many more ideas for family fun and traditions. Love, Betty G. in TN
Ahhhh – traditions, its funny how they can come about. Things you don’t even realize until much later that become a tradition :) Growing up, every year on Christmas Eve, my mom and dad hosted an open house. I still remember the smells thru the house on Christmas Eve day as mom prepared all those yummy dishes. Around 10pm that nite, the doorbell would ring, and my Dad;s brothers and sisters would be gathered at the base of our steps, singing Christmas carols. I cherish that memory SO MUCH now. My son Jonathan and I had so many traditions that now play over and over in my head (now that he is with Jesus): trips to visit my family in RI, our annual cut-our-own-tree event (we would pick a different Christmas Tree farm every year!), and going to see the Trans Siberian Orchestra together (when it was over we would actually start a countdown to next year’s show). It is so hard realizing that I won’t get to do those things with him again :(:( But I am SO GRATEFUL I started them – and they live on in my memory forever :):)
God bless you and your sweet family, Aunt Ruthie!
xxooo
Diane and family
Baltimore MD
What a bunch of sweet little muffins those kids are!
Looks like a perfect family outing. I can’t believe how fast (Summer Rose, correct?) is growing up!!
She looks different in every post!
Thank you for sharing your family tradition with me. I feel like I’m right there jumping in those leaves with ya’ll.
Hugs, Sugar & Hot Apple Cider !!!
♥Linsey-Lou♥
What a beautiful post about something so important to my family….this year, I am creating a Family Traditions book using an online photo company and adding pictures from year’s past of each tradition our family has for Christmas….and writing why this was a tradition.I am giving one to each of my 4 grown nieces and nephews and my two grown children as well..it’s going to especially important as my father in law passed away this week and our children are getting married this year so they may not be with our immediate family next year and we want them to share these important traditions with their new family. Thanks for the beautiful scripture and the great reasons why traditions are important.
What a wonderful post! Your family looks like they have a lot of fun together! We have many, many family traditions but one of my favorites is going to church as a family on Christmas Eve to the candle light service. Such peace and love fill my heart and I hope my children feel the same way!
Great article. I’m glad you put in the point about being flexible as seasons in life change. Through the years, our traditions have morphed to fit moves, changes in schedules, the maturing of our children, children going off to college, moving, getting married, etc. I’ve been tempted to fret that these changes meant we weren’t doing a good job of keeping family traditions. But, I’ve come to see that we always make new traditions and remember the old ones and that it all adds up to sweet memories for us. Being flexible is especially key when you add in-laws to the mix, as they will come to your family times with traditions and memories of their own. Your comment about flexibility encouraged me, as I am in a stage where our kids are sentimental about our times together but also must adapt to their spouses’ families, too. Most fun of all, we have a young grand baby and are making new traditions with her. And, my husband and I are establishing traditions for our empty nest time together, which is important, too. Your article is inspiring me to be creative in that area.
I’m also glad that you pointed out that some traditions are small things. Small things repeated in love can add so much stability to a home. It’s so easy to forget the impact of these things.
It’s so fun to hear grown children reminisce about their favorite family times and traditions.
MY FAV PIE IS A THICK APPLE CRUMB!
My favorite pie is blackberry….:)
Love each and everyone of your articles … I’ve been following you for two years now. Your stories and Family traditions are so warm and loving. Sometimes when I’m down and out I reread them and they bring up my spirit… I’m raising two children for the past 10 years and my granddaughter loves looking at all your pictures. We have even made your fake candy apples, they were a great hit on Halloween… Thank you for sharing your life with us… Our favorite pie is chocolate cream mint pie…
My favorite pie is cherry!
Love the pumpkin patch. We really enjoy searching out the perfect pumpkin and always end up bringing way too many home. That is okay though because we can just do a lot of decorating. The children can hardly wait to carve their pumpkins into pumpkin faces. I felt like we were lost in the corn maze this year, though. :) Oh the joys of fall!! I love all your posts and am so inspired to decorate and create a happy, cozy home.
Hi Aunt Ruthie!
I love your website! Soooo cute and fun!
I have a great new product that I would love to send you for review – it’s a new book and doll set that helps parents teach their kids about dental health and get excited about losing their baby teeth. Check us out at http://www.teethfairies.com
Can we send you one?
Bravo!
I love your presentation and I fully agree since my belief is “tradition”.
That is how u keep a family, and that is how u keep a Nation.
Well done!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!