Welcome to a Secret Subject Swap. This week 9 brave bloggers picked a secret subject for someone else and were assigned a secret subject to interpret in their own style. Today we are all simultaneously divulging our topics and submitting our posts.
Holiday Traditions...keep them or toss them? Well, I think that too many things from the past are being tossed and traditions is one of them. I grew up with traditions from my mom's family. Every Easter, Thanksgiving and Christmas were the same every year, like clock work. My family was not spontaneous or adventurous maybe that's why I am.
Some things I continued with my kids. Like stockings at Christmas. My boys are grown with children of their own and each year at 31, 27 and 25 they will ask "you're doing stockings, right Mom?". Another tradition is putting up the Christmas tree the day after Thanksgiving. We didn't go to "black Friday sales" because back then the stores were closed.
We have ham for Easter, turkey for Thanksgiving and both for Christmas. Why? Because that's how I grew up. I have done it differently but it felt weird.
We opened our Christmas gifts on Christmas Eve at my house and my stocking the next morning along with whatever Santa brought. I did not do Santa with my kids. We would then load up the car with food and gifts and head to my grandparents farm. Everyone would gather and we'd eat, have dessert, clean the kitchen, put away the food and THEN and only then would grandmama let us open presents. It was so hard waiting! AND we would each get a gift and one by one open them, hold them up and model them if it was clothes before we could move on. As a kid that was the worst. LOL
We went to church on Easter and hid eggs that afternoon. That never made sense to me, what did eggs have to do with a bunny and what did a bunny have to do with the resurrection of Christ.
So there are somethings I continued with my family and some I did not. I honestly think that traditions keep families close and if the tradition was started and the meaning passed on it provides a root/history of the family.
I hope my kids continue with some of the traditions we started for them. One I know they enjoyed was if a present came in the mail before your birthday or Christmas you could open it then and not wait. They always enjoyed that!
Another tradition we had was that on your birthday you got to pick the food for the day. Not just one meal, but the day. No matter what. We could eat your favorite foods all day and go out at night or I'd fix their requested meal along with dessert. Definitely a favorite tradition.
Each year the boys would get some clothes and a movie or CD for their birthday along with a requested item. Now that they are grown the request are for food or money. LOL boys, right?!
Most of our traditions center around Christmas and birthdays but growing up my mom tried to make each and every holiday special. She has always sent out cards and still does, for every holiday along with a cake and candy for the kids. She has also always decorated for every holiday. That was her tradition because my grandmother never did. I did the same when the kids were growing up and this year I feel the need to return to that tradition but I'm not sure why. Maybe nostalgia?
Anyway, that's my take. I'll keep my traditions, create a few and maybe switch it up from time to to time but definitely keeping them.
Some things I continued with my kids. Like stockings at Christmas. My boys are grown with children of their own and each year at 31, 27 and 25 they will ask "you're doing stockings, right Mom?". Another tradition is putting up the Christmas tree the day after Thanksgiving. We didn't go to "black Friday sales" because back then the stores were closed.
We have ham for Easter, turkey for Thanksgiving and both for Christmas. Why? Because that's how I grew up. I have done it differently but it felt weird.
We opened our Christmas gifts on Christmas Eve at my house and my stocking the next morning along with whatever Santa brought. I did not do Santa with my kids. We would then load up the car with food and gifts and head to my grandparents farm. Everyone would gather and we'd eat, have dessert, clean the kitchen, put away the food and THEN and only then would grandmama let us open presents. It was so hard waiting! AND we would each get a gift and one by one open them, hold them up and model them if it was clothes before we could move on. As a kid that was the worst. LOL
We went to church on Easter and hid eggs that afternoon. That never made sense to me, what did eggs have to do with a bunny and what did a bunny have to do with the resurrection of Christ.
So there are somethings I continued with my family and some I did not. I honestly think that traditions keep families close and if the tradition was started and the meaning passed on it provides a root/history of the family.
I hope my kids continue with some of the traditions we started for them. One I know they enjoyed was if a present came in the mail before your birthday or Christmas you could open it then and not wait. They always enjoyed that!
Another tradition we had was that on your birthday you got to pick the food for the day. Not just one meal, but the day. No matter what. We could eat your favorite foods all day and go out at night or I'd fix their requested meal along with dessert. Definitely a favorite tradition.
Each year the boys would get some clothes and a movie or CD for their birthday along with a requested item. Now that they are grown the request are for food or money. LOL boys, right?!
Most of our traditions center around Christmas and birthdays but growing up my mom tried to make each and every holiday special. She has always sent out cards and still does, for every holiday along with a cake and candy for the kids. She has also always decorated for every holiday. That was her tradition because my grandmother never did. I did the same when the kids were growing up and this year I feel the need to return to that tradition but I'm not sure why. Maybe nostalgia?
Anyway, that's my take. I'll keep my traditions, create a few and maybe switch it up from time to to time but definitely keeping them.
Here are links to all the sites now featuring Secret Subject Swap posts. Sit back, grab a cup, and check them all out. See you there:
Baking In A Tornado https://www.
The Lieber Family Blog http://
The Bergham Chronicles https://berghamchronicles.
The Blogging 911 http://theblogging911.
Never Ever Give Up Hope https://batteredhope.
Part Time Working Hockey Mom https://thethreegerbers.
Sparkly Poetic Weirdo https://sparklyjenn.blogspot.
Climaxed
Your “Secret Subject” is: What holiday traditions do you maintain with your family that you had as a child? What will you never, ever do now?
It was submitted by: https://batteredhope.blogspot.
I love your birthday tradition of eating the person's favorite foods all day, that sounds like fun.
ReplyDeleteWhen it comes to traditions, I think it's great to hold onto your favorites while creating a few of your own. That's what I did.
Stockings still make me happy at 34, its just nice to get little trinkets that you know someone thought of you when picking them out. :)
ReplyDeleteI grew up without grandparents so we made our own traditions. We had lunch meat sandwiches on Christmas Eve and we all ate and then opened presents and then on Christmas Day mom would make the turkey and all the fixings. We had to wait until everything was cleaned up.
ReplyDeleteI love doing stockings. My kiddos don't believe in Santa anymore, but we all believe in the magic of Christmas!
ReplyDelete