By: Rolanda Beacham

“Family traditions are like a tree, with deep roots that shape the future 

and branches that hold up the past.”

Author Unknown

When I was growing up, one of our holiday traditions was Black Friday shopping. My mom would search all the sales ads on Thanksgiving evening after dinner and cleanup. This was an intense operation. We would check when each store opened and strategically plan our stops. We would list all the things we would buy at each stop. In most stores, we had to divide and conquer because of crowds. I can remember when Cabbage Patch Dolls were the hot items and all of the girls wanted one. There were fights in stores over these dolls—it was insane! This tradition faded away as I began to have children because it was way too much work. 

My family has a tradition that I started about 12 years ago. My husband and I have six children, and as the kids were growing, so were their Christmas lists. One Christmas, I remember being so excited to watch them open their gifts. I grabbed my cup of coffee and got comfortable on the couch, then told the kids they could open their gifts. Wrapping paper went everywhere, and in 2.2 seconds all the unwrapping was done. I remember thinking that was not fun for me after I had spent a lot of time trying to find the best gifts for each person and had taken time to wrap every gift with care. That was the last Christmas where gifts were the focus.  

I wanted to have fun with the family, so the next Christmas I decided to create a full morning of fun, and it has continued over the years. We start our morning with the kids cooking a big breakfast. We then have a little devotion time. We started with the story of Jesus’ birth, but now the devotion time has evolved. It has been a blessing to see everyone's spiritual growth over the years. After our devotion time, we sing “Happy Birthday” to Jesus. After all this, we take off on our neighborhood scavenger hunt. It's usually boys against girls. I create funny clues that the teams have to drive around and either do something or pick up something. The winning team gets bragging rights for the year. By this time it's about noon, and we take our time to open gifts. Our family looks forward to this tradition every year. We may not remember the many gifts that we have exchanged throughout the years, but we have created such great lasting memories together. Our tradition has been the best gift we have as a family. 

We can create a tradition out of anything: cooking a favorite meal together, watching your favorite holiday movie, etc. Having family traditions helps build a treasure of positive memories. If you don’t already have traditions, I hope you and your family find traditions that can create lasting memories together.   

Blessings to you and your family!