We live in a time when we are in crisis of the family. And because of this crisis so many people long to belong to something...anything. People want to be wanted and desire relationship. Maybe this is why traditions can be so comforting. "Tradition" by definition means "the handing down of statements, beliefs, legends, customs, information, etc., from generation to generation." When we have a tradition we feel apart of something much bigger than we are. A special tradition makes us realize we have received a gift from someone who loves us and it is being passed on to someone we love.
Size does not matter. A tradition can be special regardless of size. My mother-in-love tells about her dear grandparents and how these grandparents used to walk them to the car every time they left their house. She mentions how she can still see her grandfather trying to help them back out of the driveway, waving his hands. We live two blocks away from Taylor's parents and when we leave their house inevitably they both end up in the drive-way waving goodbye. That is a tradition. It has been passed down and it warms the heart! Maybe one day Taylor and I will be standing in the driveway waving as our children and their children pull away. (I hope I have tissue with me and my grandchildren are going to be wondering why their Be is crying.)
A tradition we gleaned from my family has to do with Christmas eve. We used to attend a midnight Christmas eve candle light service at a Episcopalian church in the town we grew up in. In fact one of my favorite memories from childhood was coming out of that service to find it snowing! I felt like we had stepped right in to the movie Holiday Inn. And every year we still love to attend a Christmas Eve service.
We can start our own traditions! If your funds are limited get creative. There are so many things that do not even cost money but could be treasured through the next generations. Be willing to get silly or messy is the event warrants it. Ask your children what they enjoy. It maybe that you already have a tradition and you did not even realize it. Look back and see what you enjoyed as a child. If you did not have a good childhood borrow a tradition from some people you admire. As a body of Christ we can share traditions with each other as well. That is the gift of being part of a great big family.
The whole point is sharing the love. Time passes quickly and our children grow up right before our eyes, in almost the blink of an eye. As we were watching the Olympics this year I commented to a friend how tired I was from staying up late with the kids and getting up early. She quickly reminded me that this would be treasured time we look back and remember with our kids. Who knows, maybe they will think back to the Olympics and tell their children how we all used to love watching them together. The next summer Olympics our kids will be 21, 19, 15 and 11. I treasured each Olympic moment after that conversation realizing that the next one would be very different. Our kids were excited and we joined in and got excited too. It was a lot of fun. I will get sleep another time. Some friends of ours would drag all their mattresses into their den on Friday night and would watch movies together until they fell asleep. I guarantee their children will remember these nights with joy and look forward to implementing a movie night with their own children.
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