I read a book years ago when my daughter was very young about building family traditions. I really liked the idea of many of them because it was a way of building memories.  The book had 60 different traditions, most of them just about every day life.  A few examples are:

1) Dad makes pancakes every Sunday morning,

2) the red plate tradition where a family member gets dinner on a special (red) plate because they have accomplished something important, gotten a good grade on something they worked hard on, had a really tough day, anything that deserves attention at the dinner table,

3) Wednesday night game night, Friday night pizza.

What a great way of building family memories through creative, easy to manage traditions.  I wish I had incorporated more of them into our lives, but it is never too late, right?  I mean my daughter is only just about to turn 18…  We still have many years left to design traditions that work for our family and I can get a jump start on some traditions I can introduce my grandchildren to; once and if I ever get any.  We travelled a lot for holidays, so that made some traditions difficult to manage.  However, this year I think I will start a tradition of a special Christmas Eve meal; Chestnut soup has always intrigued me..  But even as I write that, I remember that we usually go to early evening services and then to a good friend’s house who’s birthday is Christmas Eve…..so I may have to come up with something else.

When there are only 2 of you, it is harder to develop some traditions.  I am the only one coming up with them and my daughter is the only one experiencing them.  Game night can be very interesting with only 2.  You have to adjust some games to accommodate only 2 players. So far, she is not that into anything Christmas.  I usually have to force her to decorate the tree with me even as we pull out all of the ornaments I worked so hard on collecting to commemorate our travels, her annual ornament, etc.  I don’t know if this is something that will become important to her later or not….I trudge on anyway.

I am curious about peoples’ favorite Holiday traditions.  If you have any, please share.