Family Friday: It’s the Little Things – Embracing the Old and Inventing New Family Holiday Traditions

I love how family traditions weave our childhood memories and become the fabric of our adulthood. One of my favorite holiday memories is crowding around a big table with all my cousins and working on a giant puzzle.

Oh the glory to be the one to find the missing piece and the excitement to see the picture coming together piece by piece. Let’s not forget the bliss of when my aunt would bring us Christmas goodies to snack on, an exception to the no eating downstairs rule.

For me, Christmas still means hours spent working on puzzles. The methodology to dumping the box, then flipping and sorting, and finally beginning to connect the little girl to her cherished puppy dog and letting the story unfold.

Embracing the Old and Inventing New Family Holiday Traditions

What I love even more than all the memories of the family traditions is sharing them with my daughter as our family creates its own set of holiday rituals and celebrations. Blending old traditions and inventing new ones to create a family story all our own.

A few of our favorites…

Pack Up Toys – Mindbender puzzles, Do-Nothing Machines, Labyrinth Marble mazes and the like lose their appeal after time. So every year, we pack them up with the Christmas decorations and enjoy them again a year later when the challenge is renewed or the solution forgotten.

Annual Family Puzzle – Between Christmas and New Year’s when it’s cold outside and all the hustle and bustle of preparing for Christmas is done, that’s when it’s nice to sit around (with snacks) and tackle the traditional Christmas puzzle.

Watching Classic Movies – Top of the list is “The Wizard of Oz” with Judy Garland because before life with video recording capabilities, it came on every year right around Christmas so it just reminds me of that time.

Ridiculously Obscure Clues – It’s a tradition from my husband’s family and yes, it’s kind of dorky, but somehow finding a tricky (and better yet rhyming) way to describe gifts without giving it way is fun.

Christmas Morning Breakfast – The rule is that it can’t be fussy, and that it can bake on its own while we’re opening gifts. Favorites are make-ahead egg stratas or a bread pudding.

Tobogganing Party – Think snow and sledding followed by friends and food. What is truly nice is seeing friends with their families and watching our families get to know each other as friends.

What are your favorite holiday family traditions? What ones will you be inventing? Share your ideas in the comments below!