9.07.2011

Traditions

Growing up as a single-ish (with a brother and sister 10 and 16 years my senior - yes you read that right) child, traditions seemed to be lacking in my upbringing.  Not sure if you need a lot of family members in one household for traditions or stories that are passed on from generations past or just crazy fun parents who like to start something and call it a tradition, but regardless, I can't think of too many from my own family. 

I have always been intrigued with others' traditions, however, and had a plan to make several of my own.  I think I fall into the crazy fun parent category and I am always wondering if an event will turn into a tradition, haha.

In our 4-years of marriage (today!), 1 house and 1-child story, I am realizing that we already have a few traditions of our own:

- We have toasted to our anniversary each year with the same 'Tiffany' champagne flutes that we used on our wedding day.

- On our birthday's, we sing "Happy Birthday" multiple times and blow out the candles multiple times because once a year is just not enough.  This is a Kampsnider / Leonard tradition from Chris' family.

- We have an annual Chili and Beer party in the Fall

Nothing crazy, but enough to make our little family of three feel like our own.  It's fun to see some of the things you dreamed of as a little kid come true.

What are your favorite traditions?

2 comments:

Amanda said...

I was just wondering about the annual chili/beer fest the other day! Crossing my fingers that we (or at least I!) would be in town! Have you picked a date yet? Can't wait!

Kara said...

We have many fairly common traditions but one that is unique is that we play music on Christmas Eve. My grandparents have these bells (they are pipes cut to different lengths). Each person gets a different note and we play Christmas Carols as a whole family. We usually have to start the song over at least three times, but it's always fun! We also eat lefse (a potato pancake) on Thanksgiving. My great grandmother was Norwegian so we like to carry on some of her traditions.