Our family places a high value on family traditions.  It seems, in fact, that we are always adding another tradition to our list. For some, family traditions serve only to burden and bog down an already hectic schedule. I do understand that; I have been there too. However, I believe establishing family traditions, even just a few simple ones, can be a key element in providing a secure and nurturing environment for children.

Why establish these rituals? Well for one, they provide a sense of family connectedness and predictability. They bring the family together for a common activity and the consistency helps to ensure that the event actually takes place. If my husband or I happen to neglect one of these traditions, our kids usually say "wait, aren’t we going to do ___?" Or "Hey, we didn’t do ___ this year."

Second, they create wonderful memories. I love it when we are participating in an activity together and one of the kids will say "remember that time when we were doing ______ and then ______ happened?" For example, one of the traditions we have for Christmas Eve is that we perform a "Miracle Play" .  This was a practice which dates back over a thousand years wherein villagers of a certain area would act out the story of creation during Christmas time. The purpose of this was to emphasize the reason for the coming of Christ– to redeem fallen man. The way we choose parts is to write the characters names on slips of paper, put them in a hat and then have everyone choose a part. There is a narrator and then Adam, Eve, God, the serpent, and the cherub. One year, my dad chose Eve and my husband’s 80 year old grandmother chose Adam. This was quite a sight and still provides a lot of humour in reminiscing how they handled the parts. Despite the rolling on the floor laughter that sometimes results, we do actually emphasize and "bring home" the gravity of the story – man’s fall resulted in death. Not just our physical and spiritual death, but also the death of Christ as payment for our sins.

Finally, family traditions help give a sense of family identity ("This is what we do in our family") which I hope will serve as an anchor for my girls as they gain independence in the future. I pray that when my kids are older and are taken away from the home because of school, work or friendships, that they will want to come back to participate in these traditions because they have something to come back  to and couldn't imagine missing out on.