I grew up in a home that was steeped in traditions.  Now…as I grew up I did not realize that they were ‘traditions’, nor did I understand that they were helping shape who I would become…they were just part of everyday life!  This is the beauty of traditions and family!  Unlike the necessary rigid calendars that keep the family activities on time and on track…and unlike necessary strict rules that keep family members from getting in trouble or veering off the path of right and wrong…traditions just happen in the daily living and growing up as a family.  And then…they are passed down for generations to come.  No one left home with a rule book telling us what traditions we were ‘required’ to pass onto our children…we just automatically do it ~ almost without thinking about it. 

I had time to reflect on this over the weekend.  It was a beautiful East Texas fall day….perfect pumpkin carving weather!  (perfect because we could do it outside and not on my kitchen floor!).  This is one of our family traditions…one started by my mother when I was a child.  As my entire family sat out in the warm sun and cool breeze carving out faces and pictures from our pumpkins, the topic of this tradition came up.  My 18 year old son’s girl friend had joined us this year and I learned that this was the first pumpkin she had ever carved in her 16 years.  I was amazed…I thought everyone did this.  But once again, I was reminded that we all have our family traditions that are unique to us.  As soon as my children were old enough to get their hands into a pumpkin and scoop out the goo…we have been carving them as a family.  Of course…as they have grown ~ they now do more of the carving themselves and at the same time seem to be more ‘grossed out’ by the scooping part…’MOOOOMMM…can you do this for me?!’ 

For us…the tradition is so ingrained that my kids had their carving pumpkins picked out and purchased weeks ago ~ in anticipation of carving day the last weekend in October.  It felt so good to see my oldest set aside time on his busy Saturday to be sure he did not miss the event.  It was fun to hear #3 (who just turned 14) say “next year mom…my goal is to carve the entire pumpkin without any help!”. 

Next year he said…wow ~ I can’t seem to put into words the warmth that fills my spirit hearing my children making plans for keeping family traditions alive.  There are so many things we wish they would do without us telling them to (take out the trash…feed the dog…) but the traditions they do without a reminder.

This is why I know that the time we spend together as a family makes a difference. This pumpkin carving tradition was about an hour or so of time spent together. It wasn’t the carving that made an impact…it was the conversations shared while we carved and the encouraging words and compliments given as pumpkins took shape. The rest of the day was spent with us all scattered about doing our weekend activies…but this one hour of a 48 hour weekend made a lifetime impression.

So our traditions shape who we are…just as our time spent connecting at the family dinner table. What are some of your traditions that have been passed down for generations? How does it make a difference in your lives? What tradition do your children look forward to every year?

God Bless and Keep You,

Tami

This entry was posted on Monday, October 30th, 2006 at 1:55 pm and is filed under Traditions. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.