Family Traditions {52 Lists}

52 lists with Chasing Slow

This week is grace week at Beauty Full Slow, so I thought I'd jump in and do a past list on Family Traditions. Our family is a little unusual as we don't keep most traditional holidays, so I'd like to document it as a part of our story.

Seasonal
  • Keep the spring and fall Biblical festivals:
    • Biblical New Year - watch for the signs of the new Biblical year (new moon, aviv barley)
    • Passover - keep Passover at home as a family and remember the sacrifice of of our Savior
    • First Fruits - the first Sunday after Passover - we study the fruits of the Spirit, have a fruity dish and drink, and celebrate the resurrection of Yeshua/Jesus.
    • Feast of Unleavened Bread - remove the leaven (symbolic of sin) from our homes, eat unleavened bread for 7 days, keep the 1st and last days as rest days, then count 50 days to...
    • Shavuot/Pentecost - gather with family or brethren to fellowship and keep a rest day
    • Feast of Trumpets - make a moon cake, blow trumpets to call family to dinner, give small gifts, keep a rest day, and look forward to the return of Christ
    • Day of Atonement - afflict our souls (fast and turn away from doing our pleasure on this day), repent from our sins, and we usually eat out to break our fast, but not always. 
    • Feast of Tabernacles - look forward to when we will tabernacle with Yeshua/Jesus! We watch for the harvest moon the first day of the Feast, camp out for 8 days, keep the 1st and 8th days as rest days, attend services, fellowship with brethren, roast marshmallows and sing hymns around a camp fire, fish, canoe, do the zipline, attend a dance (this year's theme is a square dance), attend a ladies tea, go bowling, and have a family day with field games, amazing race, family fun, and a BBQ. We give the kids some spending money at the feast.  This is always a fun time that we all look forward to. 
  • We don't keep the Jewish holidays, but we play dreidel every year during Hanukkah, ever since a dear friend sent us a Hanukkah games set. We buy a big bag of chocolate coins at Costco and we play a few rounds with the whole family and then my kids play for hours.
  • Spring and fall nature walk to look for signs of spring/ fall.
  • Because we celebrate the harvest with The Feast of Tabernacles, we keep an American Thanksgiving a day late and eat all kinds of traditional Thanksgiving foods for our Sabbath meal the next day. :)
  • And we watch fireworks on the 4th of July. 

Monthly
  • Watch for the new moon and celebrate a time of renewal. Sometimes we give small gifts to each other or others without them knowing. 

Weekly
  • Prep food on Friday for Saturday, Family Sabbath dinner on Friday night, a Sabbath treat on Saturday, and church at home
  • Family movie or episode from a favorite series (currently on season 6 of Heartland)
  • Sunday home blessing day (we deep clean once a week)

Yearly
  • We have family centered birthdays to celebrate the growth of our family and mark the occasions with a special dinner and dessert of the individual's choosing. Sometimes I do a fun theme, but not always. This coming year, I want to eat out as a family on each birthday.
  • $1 for each year of birth at birthdays. I get creative with this! Last year, I put one dollar in 5 balloons for Bo's 5th, for example.
  • We put streamers on the birthday child's bunk bed or door.  

Random Traditions
  • Ice cream cones after a hair cut.
  • "What's Behind Box #1" - this is where I buy a bunch of board games or family centered activities, wrap them, and put them in a big box. I started doing this to wean my children off of TV. Once a week, I gave them a choice to watch a movie or pick from Box #1. They almost always pick from the box and sometimes there is a wrapped DVD in there. :)
  • "Roodabumps" - this where we give each member of the family a sum of money and as a family we pick what we will do with it/where we will go. On the trip, we each contribute to the cost of the trip - including gas and food! This is great to teach the kids to choose wisely - especially when eating out. Any left over money is spent at the toy store.
  • Dinner table games - this is where my husband makes a silly game to play at the dinner table. Sometimes it is an add-on game or conversation starters to get the kids talking or dreaming.
  • Taxi Rides at Bedtime - this is where my husband dresses funny, calls himself "Pedro" and takes calls for taxi rides to bed. The kids climb up on the couch and get a wild piggy back ride to bed.


School Traditions
  • Reading aloud at bedtime.
  • Not-back-to-school celebration on the first day of public school.
  • Back-to-school breakfast with one waffle for each grade the child is in.
  • Themed meals and school parties just because they tie in to the theme or row!

I'd love to incorporate more simple (and slowing) traditions, so I plan to start by adding a seasonal themed tea party. I am planning a woodland tea theme for the Feast, so that will be our first themed tea for fall. :)

Do you have any simple little traditions that are special to your family? 

7 comments

  1. What a full and rich list of traditions you have!

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  2. Heartland is my oldest daughter favorite show. We love old TV series, too, like I Dream of Jeannie and Bewitched.

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  3. What a wonderful list of traditions!
    Blessings, Dawn

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  4. I'm so happy to see a familiar face joining the 52 lists! ...and of course, I love reading your heart you share in putting together all these meaningful family traditions and some we share similarly alongside you. The taxi ride at bedtime sounds like fun! You mentioned in your comment about sharing what's on your heart....PLEASE do! You can link up as many past lists as you care to write this week :)

    May you have a truly wonderful woodland tea!

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  5. Oh I love "Box #1"! What a great idea and a fun family tradition!

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