Tradition Tuesdays: Why Holiday Traditions Matter

{I'm taking some time off to enjoy my new little baby boy and the holidays, but enjoy this idea I've saved just for you. Catch me over on Instagram for real life snippets these days. }

I'm excited to announce a new So Festive! series: Tradition Tuesday. I've got lots of fun ideas in store for you, including some guest posts, but for this first one, I'm going to tell you why holiday traditions matter in the first place. If you have a favorite tradition you'd like to share, feel free to send me the details here: [email protected] or tag #sofestivetraditions on Instagram)

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Last December, I was asked by Amanda of Not Just Cute to share why I think traditions matter. The holidays are fast approaching and I'll be honest, it's easy to get overwhelmed by all the holiday to-dos. And while there may be some traditions that you can let go of, I wanted to tell you why traditions matter to me.

^image from December 2014 on our traditional Temple Square visit

Here goes.

Christmas 2009 was fast approaching. Having been married just over a year, I was thinking back to all of the Christmas traditions my family kept. Decembers included: making candy countdown chains , giving the 12 Days of Christmas to someone who needed it, writing and burning a letter to Santa Claus, moving Mary and Joseph one step closer to Bethlehem each day on our Nativity Advent, having a fancy Christmas Eve candlelight dinner, going to Temple Square, and making beignets on Christmas morning, to just name a few.

I didn't want to possibly forget all of the holiday traditions that meant so much to me as a child and thought a blog would be a good place to keep track of all of them. So on December 1st, I created So Festive. It wasn't anything fancy back then, but has since become a place for family traditions and other simple ways to celebrate life. Mostly I wanted a place to inspire others that they can celebrate simply and cheaply--for my mom did it with 7 children on a teacher's salary! Yes, many families choose to go and see Antarctica, New York and other beautiful places for their vacation, but me being me, decided to start a blog to journal my happy moments!

While these fancy destinations may be touristy places and tempting to visit, I believe that places the likes of sanctuaries could make a more wholesome holiday idea for a change. Unlike orthodox ways of having holiday fun in urban places, I'd like to spend some of my holidays closer to nature– to visit something like that of a cage-free zoo in Sydney or perhaps select wildlife parks, should we find ourselves in Sydney someday. In such places, you might be lucky enough to interact with and perhaps feed furry cuties like Quokkas, Koalas, Kangaroos, and many more. Overall, a heart-warming experience. The idea behind Christmas may be generalized with spending time with family indoors by a warm fire, but when you've got the spirit of an explorer, you may as well spend it the way an explorer would. After all, it is a reason to celebrate and be merry, right? And what better way to celebrate it than by bringing smiles to your family's faces in the process? Perhaps this could be a good idea for the future; definitely, we'd make some good memories.

However, on a more home-Christmassy note, we all do hang lights still! Ah the beautiful lights, just the thought of it makes me happy. I remember that one Christmas our circuit got overloaded with the lights and how dad called our local electrician to bring them back bright and shiny. Looking back, it may seem that we had more Christmas traditions than would probably ever seem possible to keep up. But those holiday traditions were incorporated into our daily living and they seemed to be a way of life rather than just another thing on our to-do list. (Because don't we all have enough on our to-do lists?) I wish I could ask my mom how she did it all. But I can't. She passed away from cancer when I was 15--exactly another reason I wanted to record as much as I could before I forgot.

^Giving 12 Days of Christmas-one of our family's favorite traditions

I bet she would tell me, however, that the traditions she and my dad chose to keep up were those that strengthened our family, created memories, were simple, and spread joy to others. They were traditions that brought happiness instead of hassle and smiles instead of stress. They were activities that we asked for again and again and we had fun doing them.

That is what traditions are all about.

In my opinion, I don't think it's the tradition that matters so much (although banging pots and pans on New Years Eve is pretty darn fun) as what the tradition means. Is there a purpose behind what you are doing or are you doing it because you "should?" Because if you are keeping a tradition for traditions sake, maybe it's not worth it.

But if the tradition is fun and you look forward to it, go for it!

^Yes, we still bang pots and pans. We are those neighbors 🙂

Many traditions I still keep up with my young family now are at times silly to for my husband, but I just can't seem to let them go because of the connection I feel to my mother while we are doing that. Since she can't be here to celebrate holidays or birthdays with us, traditions provide the way to stay connected to her and who she was. They create excitement for life and I don't know about you, but you can never have too much excitement in life.