Treasured Family Traditions

Family traditions can help children develop a sense of belonging and identity.  And they can be the basis of fun and lasting memories!  Because my husband and I have been married only four years, and our children are small, I feel that we are still in the process of finding the traditions we want to carry on in our family. 

This is our traditional Easter Tree that draws on my family's Italian history.

I've recently been reading The Happy Family: Restoring the 11 Essential Elements That Make Families Work and really enjoyed their ideas about developing and implementing family traditions.  After reading, I made a list of each month of the year and the corresponding "celebrations" we have as a family.  Here's what we came up with:

January: New Years
February: My, birthday, Isaac's birthday, Valentine's Day
March: My husband's birthday, St. Patrick's Day
April: Easter, Our Anniversary
May: Mother's Day, Memorial Day-beginning of summer picnic
June: Father's Day, Pioneer Day
July: 4th of July
August: Camping Trip
September: Labor Day- end of summer picnic
October: Amy's Birthday
November: Thanksgiving
December: Christmas

This isn't a list of the exact ways we celebrate, but more of a list of holidays or celebrations we can develop traditions for.  It was a good starting point as we discussed as a family and as a couple what traditions we want to incorporate into our family life.

In addition to the month-by-month traditions, I love the less calendar scheduled traditions, the books before bed time, the weekly family nights on Monday nights, the family culture nights.

What traditions does your family enjoy?