31 Days of Hospitality: Day 24-Traditions
Image Donna Hay
Traditions are important. They make people feel comfortable. With the holiday season around the corner many of us will be partaking in decades old family traditions. From what we serve at Thanksgiving to where we spend New Year's Day, traditions are often what makes the holiday the holiday.When my husband and I got married I added his Thanksgiving food tradition - yams (from a can) with marshmallows - to my family's traditional Thanksgiving fare. The year I made homemade cranberry sauce (it was good), my dad asked where the cranberry sauce was, 'the kind with the lines'. Traditionally, we served Ocean Spray Cranberry Sauce & I tried to change that. As good as that homemade sauce was, it wasn't our tradition.
On Christmas Eve we have the tradition of opening one gift. Only one. No more, no less. Since my husband's family does Secret Santa on Christmas Eve we have the one gift picked out for us: it's our Secret Santa gift.
While some traditions date way back, most young families will start their own traditions once they have kids. A few years back we started making these sticky buns for Christmas morning breakfast & New Year's Day breakfast (they're that good).
Some of our other holiday traditions include:
- LM and her dad carving the Halloween pumpkin. Other than taking the pictures, I don't get involved.
- Christmas cookies - we spend a Saturday making cut-out cookies and decorating.
- One night in December we hop in the car, bundle up (who am I kidding? There's no bundling up around here!) and drive around to look at lights. Our paper has something called 'Christmas Tree Lane' and people send in their addresses indicating they will participate and the paper publishes them one Sunday so we know exactly where to head.
- Make a gingerbread house. Again this has turned into something for LM and her dad to do.
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Comments
Another less traditional tradition my mom and I have is the "tossing of the dough". Every year we have big plans for cookie making that just never seem to come true. We make the dough and it just sits in the fridge mocking our lack of time management. About a week before Christmas, we take charge and toss the dough into the trash. It is usually just a batch or two, but it is so liberating. Of course, this is after we do other baking is done so we aren't completely cookie free. I mean, c'mon you have to have some cookies at Christmas, right? :0)