Traditionally Speaking

I've decided that most traditions in our family come about from our children. They decide when they like something and declare it a tradition. For instance, several months ago the kids were asking Nathan to make chocolate chip cookies, since he is the master of chocolate chip cookies. He told them he would on the next Fast Sunday. After that they started expecting chocolate chip cookies every Fast Sunday. "It's a tradition," they claimed.

Friday night is always movie night/pizza night/treat night. It is devastating for them if they discover we will have different plans on a Friday night. We have started to run out of good movies that everyone likes these days, as a 12 year old boy has quite different tastes than a 5 year old girl.
Christmas season is bursting with traditions. It starts when we go as a family the day after Thanksgiving to cut our own Christmas tree. We get a tall one to reach the top of our vaulted ceiling. Then we have a Fondue party the first Sunday of December before we watch the First Presidency Christmas fireside. We make cookies to hang on the tree and go caroling for a couple of nights. We sing around the tree every night and draw names for giving family members gifts. I think it is our traditions that turn what could be a bleak time of year into a warm inviting season.

We start each school year with a Father's blessing for all the kids. We have a tradition of reading that extends from earlier generations. We end the school year with the kids throwing away their workbooks and a deep-cleaning of the house. (I'm getting excited for this particular tradition, as the house is in a pretty scary shape.)

We have written in our kids journals every week for the first year of their lives and monthly after that until they are eight. At that point they are big enough to take over. Nathan writes in their voices and those are their favorite entries. They are starting to help write in Danielle's journal and are so excited to carry on that particular tradition.

Nathan has told the kids bedtime stories every night since Brandon was 3 years old. There is such a maze of characters and plots after 9 years of continuous stories, but they always start with a "knock at the door."

We eat breakfast, lunch and dinner as a family and try to have family prayer and scripture study every day. We enjoy family jokes and humor on a daily basis. They kids particularly like to "pun"-ish us.

We bless our babies when they are a couple months old and baptize them after their eighth birthday. We embarked on a new tradition this weekend. Danielle was blessed on the same day that Brandon received the priesthood. Grandpa Frey was with us for the occasion. It's a good new tradition.