Holiday Traditions

As much as I hate to see the warm summer nights fade I can’t help but get excited for the coming cold weather that will bring us the Holiday Season. Amazing enough but I have some of the warmest memories from some of the coldest months of the year. Utah’s winter months can be brutal but they also warm my heart with thoughts of family and good holiday memories. Times like these remind me of how lucky I am to have such wonderful holidays and great family to share it with.

Joey and I have been together for 8 years now and we have spent some very memorable holidays with both of our families. The thing that I have loved most is seeing how different holidays are spent between our two families. I have come to find that not everyone’s holidays are alike, that everyone has their own touch on what holidays should be. When you think of holiday traditions you instantly think of carving pumpkins for Halloween, eating a big turkey dinner with family on Thanksgiving, maybe you put cookies out for Santa on Christmas Eve, these are all holiday traditions that most of us can share. I started thinking about what sets my family apart and makes it special to us and it brought me great memories of coming in from trick-or-treating, frozen from head to toe and my mom handing me a great big bread bowl full of hot chili to warm me up. After dinner we would lay out all our candy on the floor and start the bidding, trading Snickers for Skittles, Butterfingers for Pez, always thinking that we had hit the jack pot and that our stash was better than the next.

Just when I thought that no one’s holidays could compare to my own I went and spent a Thanksgiving with Joey’s family and saw that while their traditions are very different from those of my family, they are every bit as meaningful. One tradition that has gotten me every Thanksgiving since is everyone standing to say what they are thankful for. The first time this ides was introduced to me I thought it was going to be hard and a little silly (nothing like putting you on the spot) however, it didn’t take long before I had tears streaming down my face. Everyone was so open with how they felt, honesty like that isn’t something that you experience very often; it’s defiantly a tradition that will pass down to our family.






As we get older I have noticed that traditions are changing and growing with our age. I won't always get to bunk up with my little brothers and read them stories on Christmas Eve. As we grow we will need to add new traditions to our lives. Joey and I are so excited about our first holiday season as our own little family, this will be the first of many to come and I hope that as our family grows so will our holiday traditions.

I would love to hear some other traditions that other people have, maybe something that you think is really special to your family.


We may have been pushing it this year....I just can't let go of a good thing:-)