If you want to build memory making moments that can be passed down to your children and grandchildren, you can start a new family tradition that is sure to be recalled and practiced time and again.
Family Importance
As you weigh making a new family tradition, consider what it is that is important to everyone. A tradition can be based on a number of factors, but should always include everyone from the oldest to the youngest.
For some people, heading to the mountains after Thanksgiving to cut down the family’s Christmas tree is an annual event. Bundle everyone up, find a tree-cutting farm and survey the landscape. Welcome everyone’s input before choosing the final tree. Make a day of it by having lunch out at a favorite restaurant or stop by a nearby bakery for hot chocolate and cookies.
Make it Attainable
Family traditions are more likely to be practiced and passed down to the next generation if these are manageable. If you come up with a “big idea” find a way to simplify it so that it is carried out from generation to generation.
A huge, traditional seven-course meal on Christmas Eve can be wonderful, but it may be too much to undertake year after year. You may find it easier to have this meal the Saturday evening nearest Christmas and make it so that each family member brings one course with enough food for everyone.
Bring in the Fun
Family traditions often fall apart if they are perceived as dull, boring or outdated. Your biggest challenge may be to keep your teens interested, the most distracted and perhaps cynical members of your family.
The appeal of a family tradition is that it brings everyone together. Where cutting down a tree or preparing a huge meal may seem like a chore, meeting at the ski chalet or at a bowling alley may not. This is where family input is important — it isn’t so much what you do, rather the enthusiasm of everyone participating and the memories that can last a life time.
Take Pictures
You will want to record the tradition as it happens. No, that does not mean you must videotape the event, although that is a possibility. What it does mean is that your family have some record of carrying out the tradition.
This can be accomplished by taking pictures and sharing these photos with everyone online and also building a dedicated photo album that perhaps offers updated pictures of each passing year. You can also include information in a family journal, allowing the oldest child in the family to maintain it and passing it on to the oldest grandchild next.
Modify Accordingly
Some traditions are hard to keep up as the years pass by because the way that we do things can change too. For instance, there may no longer be a sleigh ride available as all the horse farms have gone away. No matter, change that Christmas sleigh ride into a train ride and have everyone hop on board for your annual trip to Christmas Town.
See Also — 5 Tips for Reining in the Family Budget
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