As the holidays come upon us, “The Most Wonderful Time of the Year” keeps being reiterated by many and played through my head. It truly is the most wonderful time of the year though. People are brought together to celebrate, whether it be family, friends, colleagues, no matter the size of the crowd, the holidays are all about being with those you love, celebrating the joys in life, and the season of giving. Another aspect I have noticed over the years though is the involvement of traditions during the holiday season and how important they are.
Every family has their own traditions whether it be pizza every Friday, going to the shore every summer, playing football on Thanksgiving day, or going ice skating together during the Christmas season. Traditions are all unique to families and all equally important. As I have grown up, the traditions in my family have always just seemed like second nature to me and totally normal. But then when I got older and started talking to my friends about certain traditions their family has, I couldn’t help but realize how unique my family’s traditions are and how special they are to us. For example, everyone reads about leaving cookies and milk out for Santa, right? Well in my house we always left out Diet Pepsi instead of milk because my mom always believed Santa would need a little caffeine to get through the night! Not to mention that no one in my family actually likes drinking milk, so we wanted to switch it up! People thought I was crazy when I told them that but it made all the sense to me!
There comes a time in our lives, usually our teenage years, when we become “too cool” to do anything with our families. This is when the spark of the traditions begins to fade and sometimes it is even a fight between you and your parents or other family members to get you to participate. I, of course, went through this phase and did not want to do anything that involved tradition. I was not being appreciative of what I had and what wonderful memories my family was trying to create with me. I did take this time, however, to make traditions with friends along the way such as Starbucks dates to gossip, vent about the latest happening, or just grab coffee with a friend you need to catch up with! Having such great family traditions helped me create some with my friends along the way.
Once college hit though and the reality of being an adult set in, I wanted to do nothing else besides be a kid again. Suddenly the thought of carving a pumpkin, decorating a gingerbread house/the Christmas tree, and dying Easter eggs all seemed like so much fun. I started appreciating all of the family traditions and realizing just how many my family has! Now as my siblings grow up with their own families and start creating their own traditions, I can’t help but think towards the future.
My siblings and cousins have all grown up at family events together with our parents, aunts, uncles, or grandparents hosting. Now, I see my siblings starting to host their own events and it makes me realize that we are next in line and life is not slowing down in any way. It is also our responsibility now to keep all of the traditions going! Traditions are also an amazing way to remember all those who have passed in happy and bright memories. So cherish the moments and traditions that you experience this holiday season and remember to always take pictures to make the memories last, and remember why you love your traditions.
