Holiday Traditions | What Do They Mean To You?

Hi everyone ,

Holiday Traditions-What do they mean to you?  This concept is something that came to mind when, this year, Lisa's older sister decided to pass her traditional Gingerbread Holiday cookie recipe down to our daughter.  I mentioned this to a customer of ours who thought it would be nice idea to start a holiday cookie tradition with her little girl.  Now I've never been one to make recipes a part of our real estate marketing plan but the idea of starting traditions was something that resonated with me.  

If you look up the word "Tradition"in Wikipedia, the word means to "hand down" or to "hand over".   The customs that many families hand down or hand over in the spirit of "Tradition" can be anything from food or desert recipes to decorations to special activities, particularly around the holidays.

Most families have some origin from another country and through the years pass down traditions that started in those countries.  My mother is Swedish born and passed down the Santa Lucia tradition (see photo above) while Lisa's family of Italian & Mexican origin has traditions deeply rooted in "food".  Lisa's mother always made lasagna on Christmas and we always ate fish on Christmas Eve. 

Christmas music filled the air all through the holidays in our home.  Of course there is the decorating of a Christmas Tree as well as the mantel of the fireplace in our family.  Another custom Lisa's mother handed down was that we always had to wait for the arrival of the three kings on the sixth day of January before dismantling the Tree.

While most traditions have a tendency to modernize through the years and may lose their actual original meaning, I believe many will agree that the passing of traditions translates feelings of warmth and family around the holidays.  For those of you who may be curious to read about the origins of Christmas holiday traditions from around the world, I've included this link to Traditions that I thought was pretty interesting.

There are many traditions that we do around the holidays that we don't even think about as they become second nature to us but we know in our hearts that without them the holiday wouldn't be the same.  No matter what your family origin may be Holiday Traditions are in the air, what do they mean to you?

We'd love to hear about your family traditions so be sure to leave us a comment on this post and tell us about your family Holiday Traditions!