The Traditions That Make a Family
Every summer, my family returns to the lake.
There is barbecue and boating, good food passed from one set of hands to another, and generations of our family gathered together. When the fireworks begin, we watch them sparkle and reflect across the water.
Great-grandparents, grandparents, parents, new babies, cousins, growing families.
For years, my Papa was part of those summers. I remember him teaching me to fish and sitting with him on the balcony, talking and watching the lake.
He isn't there anymore.
But the lake still is.
And every time we return, those memories come with us.
That is the gift of tradition.
Traditions give ordinary time weight. They give families something to look forward to, something to hold onto, and memories that can be carried from one generation to the next.
Ordinary Things, Repeated with Love
A tradition doesn't have to be elaborate.
In fact, some of the traditions that mean the most to me are incredibly simple.
Saturday pancakes in pajamas.
Friday night homemade pizza and a movie.
Sunday dinner around the table.
A favorite recipe that comes out every fall.
Apple cider and German apple cake.
These things may not seem significant while you're doing them.
But when you repeat them year after year, they become part of the fabric of a family.
Children begin to anticipate them. They know what is coming. They know what belongs to your family.
That repetition communicates something, too.
We make time for this.
This matters to us.
You matter to us.
Making Traditions Your Own
Some traditions are inherited.
Others you create.
When my husband and I got married, we began making certain holidays our own. Easter became one of those.
We would prepare for family coming into town, plan a special menu, set everything up, have an egg hunt, play games, listen to music, and sometimes Nana would lead everyone in a little dancing.
It wasn't about creating a picture-perfect holiday.
It was about creating something our family would look forward to.
Something that belonged to us.
I think there is something special about taking traditions from the families we grew up in and carrying the best parts forward while creating new ones for the family we are building.
That is how traditions grow.
You Don't Need a Big Tradition
Sometimes we make traditions sound more complicated than they need to be.
They don't require a holiday, a special destination, or a lot of money.
A tradition might be pancakes on Saturday morning.
It might be walking around the neighborhood after dinner.
It might be making the same birthday cake every year.
It might be Sunday dinner, a special Christmas breakfast, or gathering everyone together for a favorite recipe.
What makes something a tradition isn't necessarily what you do.
It's that you keep doing it.
You carve out the time.
You give it a little intention.
You make room for people to simply be together.
And over time, those ordinary moments become the moments everyone remembers.
What I Hope They Remember
I think often about what my children will remember when they are grown.
I hope they remember a house that was full.
Full of people, food, conversation, music, laughter, and friends.
I hope they remember that we made time for each other.
That holidays felt joyful.
That there was always somewhere to go and a place to belong.
That ordinary things could feel special simply because we did them together.
I hope they remember the meals around the table and the traditions that came around every year. I hope they carry some of them into their own homes, change some of them, and create traditions of their own.
Because that is what I love most about traditions.
They remind us that a family is not built only in the big moments.
It is built in the small things we repeat.
The meals.
The holidays.
The Saturday mornings.
The summer evenings.
The familiar recipes.
The places we return to.
The people we keep making time for.
Ordinary things, repeated with love, become memories.
And I think traditions are one of the sweetest ways we tell the people we love:
You belong here.