“A family that plays together stays together!” “A family that prays together stays together!” Traditions, I love them! They are the glue that keeps families together! They bring us closer to God, to each other, and traditions remind us to make time to have fun together!
Last night I was reminded about my love for traditions! As we watched our girls strategically place things so they could REALLY catch the leprechaun THIS time! They don’t let a year go by without making a leprechaun trap, and they were feeling pretty confident that this was the year it was going to happen! I just couldn’t resist feeling excitement for them! It was so fun to listen to them devise a plan…their imaginations are incredible! We finally got them to bed at a decent hour and they were just too excited to sleep…so it was a short night!:-) ONE woke up early and I said to go back to sleep because it was too early to wake up, and before I knew it they were all awake in bed, giggling and talking. I opened the door and in unison and with excitement bursting out of them they said, “WE WANT TO GO SEE IF WE CAUGHT THE LEPRECHAUN!!!” I gave the ok and they were off and running…lucky for us, everyone made it down the stairs in one piece!”:-) They talked all morning about how close they got this time and how the leprechaun was such a stinker for always making such a mess. 🙂 These are memories they will remember forever!
I am simple. If I had more time and organization skills, I might be more inclined to be a little more elaborate, but simple is more my game plan. So our family traditions aren’t extravagant, they usually don’t take a ridiculous amount of planning or preparing to carryout. I can squeeze them in when life is crazy, and we can embellish them when life is calm (which is rare).:-)
When I think of traditions, I think about my jolly dad, with his jolly belly and contagious smile, waiving his arms in the air, and playing the part of Tevye from “Fiddler on the Roof” while he belts out “Tra-di-tion!….Tradition…Tradition! Tra-di-tion! Tradition….Tradition!” Growing up my family had many traditions, and I believe that’s how my parents kept 6 children (all chiefs and no Indians) together over the years.
My mother-in-law is also a big believer of tradition! She is the sweetest person you’ll ever meet (not even kidding, I don’t think she has a mean bone in her body). But we all know that tradition is tradition, and we don’t mess with or think about breaking tradition! She and my Father-in-law were also able to keep a family of 6 kids (four boys smack dab in the middle) alive and loving each other, by having many traditions!
Each family is different and everyone’s traditions are different, but I really feel like traditions are the glue that keeps families together! Our lives are so busy running here and there these days, if we can make sure to stick simple and consistent traditions in the mix, our families bond will be stronger, and it will be harder to pull us apart!
We by no means have a perfect (or even close to perfect) record with our traditions, but we try, and we recommit often. We try to pray together morning and night, we try to read scriptures together everyday, we eat dinner together most every night, we have a family night once a week where we look at our weekly calendar, have a family meeting, have a thought, do an activity, and then of course, have a treat!:-) We have holiday traditions and family vacation traditions. We have traditions we do with our kids each month, we have food traditions, work traditions, and date night traditions. The list is endless. We love traditions! I am a firm believer! Tevye couldn’t have said it better, “How do we keep our balance? I can tell you in one word, TRADITIONS!…And because of our traditions, every one of us knows, who he is, and what God expects him to do….without our traditions, our lives would be as shaky as…as…As a fiddler on the roof!”
I couldn’t agree more! I’m off to find more traditions I can add to our mix to keep our bond strong, not shaky!
And a little enjoyment for those that love Fiddler on the Roof…
-Lindsey
This story appeared first on Real Imprints.