This week, we are diving into traditions; what are traditions, and what are examples of holiday traditions. Before we dive in, here are this week’s affirmations (Hey! Affirmations are a wonderful idea to make a tradition. Try a weekly affirmation with the family or by yourself, or create a tradition where everyone says a self-affirmation around the dinner table): 

So, what is a tradition? The Meriam-Webster definition of a tradition is “an inherited, established, or customary pattern of thought, action, or behavior (such as a religious practice or a social custom)”. This means that any activity or pattern of behavior can be considered a tradition. When it comes to holiday traditions, it typically means an event or specific behavior that reoccurs annually. It also is something that people “look forward to” or associate with certain celebrations. For example, during birthday parties, singing “Happy Birthday!” may be a tradition. Similarly, those who celebrate Christmas may decorate a Christmas tree every year, which is another example of a tradition. Food is another great example of tradition as different cultures may eat specific meals or food items at holiday gatherings.

Is there a right and wrong way to traditions? No! The beauty of traditions is they are diverse and can be individual! Not every family or person has to do the same thing! It is okay to create your own new traditions! To create a new tradition or adopt one that may already be practiced by others, consider what you find enjoyable, what has meaning to you, or what will help “mark the occasion” for you. 

We asked our Touchstone Health Services Prevention Department team to share their favorite holiday traditions as examples. Read them below!

My favorite holiday tradition is the one on Christmas morning. My children and partner take turns grabbing our Xmas presents from underneath the tree, but before we open them we take a guess at what the present could be! If you get it right you get to go again at opening the next present and if you got it wrong then the next person goes! It is really fun to see my babies guess, mostly because they always guess things they didn’t even ask for so it always throws me and my partner off! We do all this while drinking hot chocolate.

A tradition that my family has for the holidays is that we always try to do a multicultural thanksgiving. By this, I mean that since a lot of our family friends are from different cultures, we incorporate a variety of traditional dishes to create a big thanksgiving feast. 

On my dad’s side, each family takes a turn with a book we made to honor my uncle who passed. So everyone in the family donates $50. The sum goes toward a charity or family or something. So whichever family has the book that year gets to choose where all the money goes. One year my cousin and I got the money when we started college because we were his goddaughters. 

At holiday gatherings, we have a tradition where we play “the saran wrap ball game”. Random gifts/prizes are wrapped in the different layers of saran wrap and it’s just an exciting, competitive, and giggly time for the whole family. A new tradition I’ve started with my partner, is we take photos in front of our Christmas tree in our pajamas right when we wake up on Christmas morning. I started it with the hopes of being able to capture the changes from year to years, such as our aging, and life milestones like adding a child to our family and then having them in the photos with us. 

A family tradition I have is on Christmas Eve the kids are allowed to open up one gift before bed. We usually have gifts from family under the tree before the actual Christmas morning. Growing up we were always so excited for the morning to come so our parents would let us open up one gift before bed on Christmas Eve. It’s just something my family came up with since we do celebrate more on Christmas Eve than actual Christmas Day.

For my traditions on holidays my family likes to make our delicious homemade tamales made by my mother and grandma. Also, the adults in the family like to do secret Santa every Christmas.

As a Hispanic man, one of my traditions is to make tamales and champurrado for Christmas. Oh, and also ponche, can’t forget that! 

Every year around the holidays my family plans a big traditional party. We all come together for an omelet brunch. My grandpa cooks over 50 omelets and everyone brings a different item to stuff them with. There are so many different options to choose from; several types of meat, vegetables, avocado, different homemade salsas, multiple cheese blends, and one of my aunts even makes a fruit bar. We hang out at my grandparents’ house laughing and talking for hours. The best part of it all is that everyone wears Christmas pajamas!

Every year my family gathers at my grandparent’s house on Christmas Eve. My grandma makes a German dish called Rouladen for dinner which is beef rolls filled with bacon, onions, mustard, and pickles cooked and covered in gravy. After dinner, we open presents from one another!

When we decided to have children, I was super excited to set family holiday traditions into place. Every year after eating our Thanksgiving dinner, my family and I play Christmas movies and we decorate the house for the Christmas season! Dynamics have changed as my children grew older, but this is one tradition that always remains! My girls travel home for bonding time, Thanksgiving dinner, and Christmas decorating fun!

I would say that we always take the day after Thanksgiving to put up Christmas decorations while listening to Christmas music and eating Thanksgiving leftovers. It helps remind me that spending time with family to create those memories are more important than the holiday shopping for Black Friday.

As you can see, our traditions are very diverse! There is no right or wrong way to have a tradition, and you can have as many as you want! Do you have a favorite holiday tradition? Share it with us in the comment section below! 

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