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Celebrate the Season with New Traditions

  By Kirstin Downie, Director of Development                We all have family holiday traditions. Often traditions seem to happen spontaneously and evolve from year to year on their own. Sometimes, as family dynamics change, we find it difficult to keep those traditions intact and they come to an end. So how do you fill that void? How do you create a meaningful and enduring tradition?

The First Lady recently announced the official White House 2013 holiday theme as celebrating “the stories and traditions that bring us together this special time of year”, so I thought I would share my favorite holiday tradition.  Every year, when I was young, my family made the snow covered journey from Buffalo to Rochester, NY, packed in the family Buick listening to holiday songs, to pick out and cut down our tree. We would travel back, with a beautiful 8-footer strapped precariously to the roof, feeling tired, chilled and excited to decorate the tree. We ended the day watching A Christmas Story movie and enjoying all the Scottish baked treats my mom made while warming ourselves by the fire.

As the days get closer to a reunion with my family and friends, I’ve been thinking about that memory a lot. While our tree tradition is long gone – this year I picked out my tree from a home improvement store parking lot in 70 degree weather – I wonder what new tradition I might start to bring us closer together and create those lasting meaningful memories again.

As you think about the season and the end of the year, I hope you will take time to consider new ways you can capture that holiday spirit for your family. Start a tradition of giving to others in honor of your family, friends, and coworkers. Give to causes they are passionate about, to an organization that will inspire them, or to issues that need support. Spend a day volunteering in their honor or better yet with them. Whatever your new tradition is, make it fun, make it count, and make it last!