Traditions

The holiday season is upon us.  For many of us that means that we get to participate in fun family traditions.  My family has several traditions that have passed on through the years.

I come from a family of givers.  Giving to everyone at Christmas time has become more difficult because our family has steadily increased in number (and size…LOL).  So, some years ago, we placed everyone’s name in a container on Thanksgiving.  You were only responsible for getting a gift for the person’s whose name you pulled.  Fun idea, right?

Bible Study Cousin and I also started a tradition where we get a Christmas gift for the whole family.  Sometimes, we would finish the gifts in a single day.  Other times, we would map out time to complete the gifts bit by bit.  When you’re working to bless a lot of folks with a limited budget, you HAVE to get creative and be willing to put some man hours into the job.

We also have some not so great traditions in our family.  If I want everyone to know something, I just have to tell one person and the word gets around.  Like I’m not talking about a specific person in my family.  I mean just anyone in my family in general.  Then we play this fun game where everyone acts like they didn’t know. 

So just imagine how challenging it is for us to be surprised on Christmas by the person who pulled our name.  Clearly, you must get information about your person’s likes and dislikes.  Although we’re all family, we do tend to gravitate towards certain people.  You may pull someone’s name that you don’t know much about.

When asking around about a person’s likes and dislikes, folks can get suspicious.  Did you pull their name?  Did someone in your family pull their name? 

And then you want to make sure the RIGHT person pulled your name.  Because even though I come from a family of givers, some folks just pull out the BIG gift giving guns all the time.  Where’s Bev at????

My family may not be like yours.  Undoubtedly, we all have different traditions.  Your family may spend each holiday apart.  That’s a tradition.  You may spend EVERY weekend together.  That’s a tradition.  You may only come together for the big holidays…..and funerals.  That’s a tradition.

The great thing about traditions is that they can be started or stopped at any time.  Because not all traditions are good.  On the flip side, not all traditions are bad.  We have the opportunity to create traditions that leave a positive impact.  What traditions are you going to create or destroy this holiday season?  #wepreach