When I was in high school, my brother and I convinced my mom that if there was a Mother’s Day… there should also be a day for us. And so Son’s & Daughter’s Day was born.
Every year, we celebrate our made-up holiday on March 20th, and for over 20 years, my mother has gotten me a gift. We also celebrate with our kids as well. I hope that this tradition lasts for generations.
I love traditions, and in this post, you’ll learn why and how we create traditions.
You can grab our summer list of 100 here. It’s a tradition we have been doing for a few years.
It’s a family tradition
I love having traditions that are our own. The cool thing about traditions is that they are unique to your family. They can be centered around other events. We go out for breakfast and go for a hike on Christmas Eve every year.
The tradition is centered around Christmas Eve, but what we do that day is unique to our family.
Here are some traditions we love:
- Birthday trips
- Kindness Advent Calendar
- Son’s & Daughter’s Day
- Christmas Eve Breakfast & Hike
- Want, Need, Wear, Read Christmas gifts
- Reading the story of Jesus and praying BEFORE opening any presents on Christmas
- Dad-Daughter Dates for the big kids and my husband before school starts for the year
- Sunrise breakfast in the summer
Passing on memories and love
As I have gotten older, I realize I love nostalgia, memories, keepsakes, and heirlooms more than ever. I love being able to say that our China cabinet was my great-great-grandmother’s. I love hearing the stories of when my Gram came here from Germany and learned to speak English by watching Sesame Street. I love the smell of sawdust because it reminds me of my dad.
As we grow up and have our own families, our priorities and traditions change, which is a GOOD THING. And that’s why I try to be very intentional about traditions. I want our kids to grow up and love our traditions– to carry some with them and to be encouraged to create new traditions that fit their families.
Quality time together
Looking at our traditions, you will notice a common theme: time. My main goal in having family traditions is to spend time together, which is what matters.
When we were in the year 2020, and COVID was shutting down the world– we did a virtual museum for our daughter’s 9th birthday because we couldn’t go on a trip. And she LOVED it. Sure, she was disappointed that we couldn’t physically go to the museum, but she loved that we were all together in our living room to celebrate her.
Traditions are important to me, and I am so grateful that my family appeases me and continues to participate even when they don’t want to. I will never get this time back, and I want to make the most of every minute.
I would love to know what traditions you have! Comment below and share your favorite family traditions OR ones you WISH you had!
Jump over and take a look at how I capture these memories in my daily journaling practice.
