Updating Traditions

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Every family has traditions, even if that means not celebrating anything. When I was growing up the great traditions revolved around holidays. As each new holiday approached--Valentine's Day, St. Patrick's, Easter, Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas my mom would send my dad down to the basement for the appropriately labeled box (or more accurately boxes filled with decorations). We would each help my mom put the same decorations out year after year. Soon enough we knew where each decoration went and looked forward to decorating our house as much as our mom did.

Then came a family of my own and as much as we tried to decorate the house it just wasn't our thing. Each year I would go out to the stores and hem and haw over just the right things to purchase. Eventually I would decide that I would hold out until the after holiday sales. Yet, still I didn't buy.

So we decided to start some new holiday traditions of our own that involve shared experiences such as shamrock hunting, breakfast with the Easter bunny, and hanging out with the penguins at the zoo every Christmas (we missed last year, shhh! don't tell).

We also have annual non-holiday traditions like Artscape, the Baltimore Book Festival, and the Smithsonian Folklife Festival.

Of course there are also the traditions that are marked by no special occasion. Those traditions that just become part of the fabric of a family. In our house I work most weekends, so Tim and Liam have a great opportunity to start their own rituals and traditions--one of which is smiley face pancakes on the weekend. They have a special pan that grandma bought them for Christmas a few years back that has all sorts of silly smiley face imprints on it. Many a Saturday you can find them sifting flour, cracking eggs and measuring the milk to make the perfect father/son pancakes. Sometimes they switch it up with blueberries or chocolate chips, but they always finish them with syrup or as our little guy calls it "dip dip". Tim likes his syrup drizzled atop while Liam takes his in a separate bowl for expert dip to pancake ratio.Pancakes breakfasts are a touchstone of their relationship that they'll share for years to come.

How are you updating traditions in your home?