Thanksgiving Traditions Are Important
What are some of your favorite Thanksgiving traditions? We all have them and they may just be more important than you think.
Traditions such as eating certain foods, writing out things and people you are thankful for on a butcher paper tablecloth, taking a family walk or playing a game of Flag Football all make the holiday extra special.
During my youth, we would watch The Wizard of Oz every Thanksgiving.
No matter what traditions you have – traditional, or quirky, they are the glue that binds us together during the holidays.
They help us share celebrations with our loved ones and our community.
They give us a sense of belonging and help us mark important dates.
Even more importantly, they help us make memories.
Think back on your favorite childhood memories. Chances are that they are tied to traditions.
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Another important aspect of traditions is that they are something we share with others.
Creating and following through with traditions helps us strengthen and nurture relationships.
That’s why it’s so important to blend and come up with new family traditions as you start your own family. You take the best traditions from each side, blend them, and then come up with a few of your own. You’re creating your very own set of family holiday traditions that will bind your little family together.
Of course, you may also share traditions with the larger community like church service, or the city holiday parade.
They are events where we interact and meet others in our community. They make us feel part of the city, group, or church.
Take a minute to think about your own holiday traditions.
What do you do year in and year out?
Nourish those traditions and pass them on to your children. If you don’t have a lot of traditions yet, there’s no better time than the present to start them.
And don’t stop now. We still have Chanukah, Christmas and New Year. These are all great times to create traditions.
Traditions can also be shared throughout the year.
Build a sand castle during summer vacation, make Thursday night, pizza night, or play board games on the first Sunday of the month with friends.
Embrace traditions and see for yourself how they can enrich your life and your relationships.
I would love to know about your traditions.
Please share in the comments below.
18 thoughts on “Thanksgiving Traditions Are Important”
While some may get ‘bored’ with the same old same old, I love traditions, especially during the holidays. It’s very important for me to be near my family at Thanksgiving. When I moved to Atlanta in my mid-20’s, I would often fly home to surpise my family. There were times, however, when for one reason or another I couldn’t make it back to Maryland. During those times, it would sadden me to know that my entire family was gathered around the dinner table sharing a meal and I was 640 miles away. Now, I make it a point to be back in Maryland every Thanksgiving to spend time with my 4 sisters and 2 nephews but, most importantly, to be with my 88 year old Dad.
I love this share. I especially love you are there for your dad.
We don’t have any Thanksgiving traditions, except for certain foods we like to eat. But we have a TON of Christmas traditions. Christmas is my favorite holiday and now that we’ve got two small children, it’s so much fun keeping those traditions!
I will be very happy to hear about those traditions.
Hi Elise,
Here in Australia we celebrate Christmas and Easter. Christmas is normally a very warm time of year being our summer, so the food is usually a wonderful combination of white and dark meat, salads and desserts like Pavlova and plum pudding with custard. The big guy in red (Santa Claus) visits during the night leaving presents under the tree for Christmas morning on the 25th.
Easter is a bit different starting on Good Friday (traditionally we do not eat meat – maybe only fish) with Easter Bunny coming on Sunday morning to leave chocolate eggs and other goodies.
These are 2 main traditional holidays we celebrate here in Australia 🙂
Great read as usual Elise
Thank you for sharing a bit about how things are in Australia. There are similarities but also a big difference too. What fun to hear more about your life.
Hello Elise! One of my all time favorites is The Wizard of Oz, Awesome tradition! My tradition is all about getting together with family! And of course all of my moms favorite dishes that will be passed on for generations to come. Thanks for the reminder. Happy Thanksgiving.. Chery :))
You are so very welcome. Thank you for sharing about yours.
Hi Elise,
Oh yes, I remember the Wizard of Oz tradition.
My main childhood tradition was having my cousins visit on Thanksgiving. That was a big deal to me, as a kid.
Nowadays, with family spread all over the globe, traditions have kind of tapered off.
I just always look forward to cooking a lot, and then putting up the Christmas tree the day after thanksgiving.
-Donna
We used to visit my cousins. When I was really young my mom would quiz me about which aunt is married to which uncle. I always got that mixed up.
This is so true! Thanksgiving has different meanings for everyone but the underlying message is family togetherness and the way you celebrate that is beautiful!
I agree completely.
We always eat Thanksgiving togerher (my immediate family) afterwards, we split. But we always eat together and have long chat after.
It sounds lovely.
Traditions are important. In our home during thanksgiving we must eat something green. Or have something with cinnamon on Christmas Day.
I love it! I’d love to know how that tradition was born.
As a mom of a young family I’m so excited to start traditions. I remember family traditions fondly growing up and want my children to remember the same.
How fun that you are thinking about it now. 🙂