FAMILY TRADITIONS

Life

Dec 1

Date

12.1.21

time

8:00 AM

Place

Home

TRADITION REFLECTIONS

With Thanksgiving behind us and the window closing in on 2021, I can’t help but think about family, the way we build traditions and all the things.

It’s hard to believe that Jason and I are approaching 9 married years together (in June 2022) and how our traditions have evolved since our first Christmas. I remember us chatting about what our plans would be for that first year. I was determined we would go to Bainbridge and he was determined we would go to Ashtabula. The war on where was a hard one, but we finally settled on something, as I believe we had no money and it was easier to make a trip a few hours to northeast Ohio, rather than coordinating travel to my hometown in the deep South.

For Jason's family, it is all about Christmas Eve! And if there isn’t snow on the ground, these Lake living Ohioans are losing it. But on Christmas Eve the entirety of his family gets together for gifts, eating, singing and all the things. Honestly, I’ll never forget my first Christmas in Ashtabula. With the snow falling and Aunt Penny’s house being beautifully decorated, it was something out of a storybook for me, as I had never experienced a more seaonal picturesque holiday.

For my family, we are Christmas day people. We spend the day cooking up the best Italian feast. A massive sheet pan of lasagna, cheesecake baking and all the things. We do simple gift exchanges in the morning! I always loved that my mom made Christmas practical for us. We often got books, stationary, a lovely new planner and things of that nature, you essentially could carry a piece of Christmas with you all year as you used those things and I just loved that. From there, we would spend the day house hopping. From Grandma’s to Auntie Lisa’s to Uncle Oatha’s then scoot to see friends. And I should say, no snow, which is perfectly fitting for south Georgia.

Oh so many memories. Perhaps what I love most about family traditions is to see how you infuse them into your family unit. After 9 years of Christmas’ elsewhere, Jason and I are having Christmas at home, at our home, our very first home. Yes, we bought a house! I was hoping to have a cute picture to share with all of you, but it is simply not my reality right now. I’ll make that happen this weekend. This year, we are spending Christmas in a charming 1930s Cape Cod style home that we just purchased. I am equal parts nervous and excited, but most excited to see how we build tradition as homeowners. To see how we marry and blend our previous holiday traditions into something that we uniquely call our own.

What is your family holiday tradition?