Traditions

November is my favorite month of the year. I love the weather, the last effort to soak in the intermittent moments of hot sun and glorious views of red, orange and yellow leaves before it is blanketed in snow. I also love Thanksgiving. It warms my heart just to think of the gathering of family members, discussing the small and grand blessings we are so blessed to have in our lives. I love the rubbing of shoulders in the kitchen and most of all, I love our family traditions.

Why are family traditions important?

"Family traditions are like spiritual and emotional cement in the foundation of a happy home. They create fond memories, and these memories bond us together as nothing else can.

Traditions influence the way we live and the way we look at life. They may be practices or beliefs handed down from generation to generation, or new habits or patterns we establish in our own families. Some will be based on commandments and righteous principles, others may evolve from our cultural or national heritage."

"As important as the establishing of any tradition, no matter how creative or enlightening the event itself is supposed to be, parents must never lose sight of the spirit in which the activity is conducted. How easily we overshadow the beauty of any special occasion when we allow force, anger, or impatience to intrude. If the children are not perfect, the food cooked just so, or the decorations quite what you had imagined them to be, remember how much more important it is that you are all together sharing this sweet tradition. And prepare a little better next time."

Found in March 1986 Ensign Article

One of my favorite family traditions started just 3 years ago. I felt that Thanksgiving was beginning to feel hectic. The day started  and ended with Mom running around the kitchen frantic to get everything accomplished successfully and on time precisely. Even with all the help each family member gave, we all felt like it was a stressful day, void of peace and relaxation. I thought of ways we could take a moment from cooking and cleaning and really enjoy the day as a family.

I purchased a white tablecloth and after dinner it was spread across the dining room table. I told each family member to ponder what they were most grateful for and to write it down on the cloth. Everyone miraculously wrote something different and it was so heartwarming to see the blessings we have received individually. The table cloth was put aside and brought out when we met again as a family for Spring and Fall General Conference. As we are listening to Conference, Mom, sister, sister in law and I stitch up the blessings.

When Thanksgiving day rolls around again it is so neat to look over the previous years stitching and the blessings that are soon beginning to overtake the white spaces of our cloth. It is such a family treasure and we all look forward to it every year.

• What are your favorite Thanksgiving Traditions?

Diana Noyce was kind enough to share this family tradition, "We have a family home evening around Thanksgiving time when we give a gift to Jesus.  It is a promise we make to him of one thing we can do to draw closer to him or be more like him...a goal we will work on for the next year.  ,We write it down on wrapping paper and place in a wrapped box.  Every year all the boxes are in a pile in our front room."

I love her tradition and I hope that we can each continue to remember to uphold those traditions we have within our families and maybe start a new one or two this season.

Here are some basic traditions to start with your family. Also found from the Ensign.

Examples of Family Traditions

1. Let each person choose the dinner menu for his or her birthday.
2. Celebrate birthdays of famous people or the days of their discoveries in history: Pizza for dinner on Columbus Day (round pizza to signify the earth) while discussing the voyage; cherry pie for Washington’s birthday; German chocolate cake for Beethoven’s birthday while listening to one of his symphonies (most children will choose the Fifth).
   
3. Assign someone to choose a topic of conversation for the dinner meal.
   
4. Give a Bible or Book of Mormon to each child on his or her eighth birthday.
   
5. Have a family reunion on a great-grandparent’s birthday each year.
   
6. Assign each family member to take notes when listening to general conference, then discuss them in family home evening.
   
7. Run, jog, bike ride, or walk regularly as a family.
   
8. Read aloud to your children, regardless of their age, and have them read to you.
   
9. Celebrate the birthday of an ancestor.
   
10. Attend tithing settlement together as a family.
    
11. Hold individual interviews with children on Fast Sunday afternoon.
    
12. Play soft music nightly (especially classical or semi-classical) to set a tone of serenity in the home.
    
13. Hold family home evenings in different rooms of the house. Have each child serve as host or hostess in turn, arranging for seating and treats.
    
14. Support each family member participating in athletic events, musical performances, or other productions.
    
15. As a family, cut firewood and then have a picnic.
    
16. Discuss Sunday School or Primary lessons at dinner time.
    
17. Keep a family journal, letting children write in it too.
    
18. Visit grandparents on Sundays.
    
19. Tell a bedtime story each night.
    
20. Always have children report in after an evening activity, at the parents’ bedside.
    
21. Kiss each other good night.
    
22. Set family goals on New Year’s Eve, or let each plan an adventure he hopes to have (individually and together) during the coming year.
    
23. Make items for family members on special occasions.
    
24. Collect in a binder songs that the family can learn and sing together in the car or at home.
    
25. Write a family letter and circulate it among relatives, each adding something to it. Save the letters to make a book for family reunions.
    
26. Allow each child a regular time to stay up fifteen minutes longer than the other children to spend time alone with parents, or plan a “night out” with each child.
    
27. Establish your own holidays, for your own reasons.
    
28. Make a flag for each family member, possibly designed by each, to be flown at your house on special occasions.
    
29. Have a special plate, glass, or cup that is used at dinner by a family member who has an event or reason to celebrate.
    
30. Let Dad and children cook breakfast on Saturday mornings, allowing Mother to rest.
    
31. Establish one night a week as “Oral Reading Night.” Select an appropriate book and read it aloud, as a family, for a predetermined period of time.
    
32. Set a time for family testimonies or gospel study.
    

 May the spirit be with you and your family as you strive to grow stronger together.