Traditions

I appreciate family traditions, and I think they are important touchstones. Besides getting together around the table for holiday meals, I grew up with mom decorating -at least the living room- for every notable occasion, and I do the same. I loved the decorations when I was younger,and now I think my kids do,too. My mom did ceramics, sewing, painting,etc. I didn't get that artistic gene apparently, but I do have beautiful pieces she made,and I display them proudly, especially her manger pieces,Easter items and so many others. Wonderful nostalgia.I would help her with holiday baking and I loved her homemade fruitcakes! Dad and mom always had a real Christmas tree.Smells create traditions, too. After dying some eggs today for Palm Sunday, I remember that activity growing up and I look forward to doing it every year.Also, one tradition that I share with Adam and Gina is making a gingerbread house around Christmas. Because Adam is artistic, the gingerbread house, thankfully, always looks pretty good.Also Adam gets a Nutcracker decoration every year and Gina gets an angel piece. Continuity and anticipation are good I think. Now that Adam has his own house, I try to give him at least one decoration for each occasion to keep and reuse each year. However, he doesn't really care about having what he calls, "more stuff." So I'm wondering, is this interest in keeping traditions , holiday decorating, baking, etc., more important if you are a parent? Probably.... One day - not too soon-perhaps Adam and Gina will be parents and appreciate these details more and do something that will become a tradition with their kids, too ( and maybe the grandma will be included).