Family traditions are those things that help build your own unique family culture.
As much as you may have many ideas in mind and projections of how you want your family life to look like, the family traditions that stick are typically the ones that seem to develop naturally. No pre-planning. Then it's like suddenly you step back and notice, "Wow! This is such a beautiful little tradition we do together!"
Every family has their own traditions so I wanted to share one that's been developing in ours. :)
Each year I typically make a music video of all the past year's pictures (We actually shared our 5th Year Anniversary video here). We have one from our wedding that was made by our videographer, then one from our honeymoon and basically each year from the past five years of our marriage.
Last night, I randomly popped in the one from our honeymoon for us to all watch together and then we watched our 5 year anniversary video after that. The kids LOVE watching these. This is how they typically look, getting all excited to see each other and remember the fun things they did...
Then it sometimes gets a little crazy over all the excitement and laughter...
Sometimes, I'll randomly put out an album of family photos for them to rummage through and laugh at. They love seeing themselves as little babies and recalling the different things they did. There's so much delight in their voices when they reflect and "think back" to those moments through those pictures and videos. After showing the video last night of our honeymoon which was splashed with some pictures of our wedding, John-Paul told me this morning that he wanted to see more pictures "of when we were married." (Sadly...I have yet to develope our wedding pictures...I only printed a couple in a rush at the time lol. I'm horrible...I'll get around to it....).
Young Bill and I on our honeymoon... Love is in the aiiirrr!
Ooo! Here's one of "those" candid wedding pictures... "Hee-haw!" *Donkey sounds*
A while ago, I had realized that this was such a neat little family tradition that we picked up. We don't do it too it often, so as to exhaust it. We really don't plan it either...it just seems to naturally happen perhaps once or a couple times a month. But they are precious family moments because it's such a beautiful and vivid way for the kids to capture and reflect on family moments of love (or, ok, I'll admit...I've definitely included some videos of "bad days" the kids had. So while Joey is crying about missing the basketball in the basket or the boys are fighting over a toy, mommy stands there recording video with the camera...Gotta have blackmail!).
Bill and I sometimes reflect between each other about how incredibly secure children must feel to see their parents in love; to see and notice the love amongst one another. (Even through all the sibling-tormenting and disicplinary action of mom and dad toward them...). These videos and photos have been a beautiful developing family tradition that lets them realize just how incredibly loved they are and just how much "daddy loves mommy" and vice versa.
And the great thing is, it's such a simple thing to do. It doesn't cost much to develop your pictures and stick them in a $1 album from AC Moore (I'm not one for scrapbooking...ain't got time for dat); nor does it take much planning and preparation. The kids love it and feel incredibly loved, it makes a great night of family memories, and mom and dad get to delight in the fruit of their love: Their family.
What are some of your family traditions?
The Christian Family
Christian families are called to be set apart from the world. We need strong Christian families in a world in which the idea of the family is so violently profaned through various "redefinitions" of it. The Christian family is "a community of faith, hope, and charity...it is a communion of persons, a sign and image of the communion of the Father and the Son in the Holy Spirit. In the procreation and education of teh children it reflects the Father's work of creation. It is called to partake of the prayer and sacrifice of Christ. Daily prayer and the reading of the Word of God strengthen it in charity [love]. The Christian family has an evangelizing and missionary task" (CCC #2204-#2205).
The family is a sign of the Blessed Trinity. The concrete reality of a family points us toward the supernatural reality of our heavenly communion with God. It is meant to point towards God and in its sanctification and pursuit of holiness it should evangelize society as well. It evangelizes through its witness to the Gospel and also in preparing the children on a strong path of discipleship so as to be "missionaries" out in the world, drawing the world unto Christ. Hence, "The Christian family has an evangelizing and missionary task" (CCC #2205). No family is perfect, obviously...which is why we desperately need God's transforming grace to heal our wounds and forgive our sins. But the image of the God within the family becomes more and more marred by the breakdown of the family happening in the world around us and the dysfunction of society's invented defintions of marriage and family.
"The family is the original cell of social life. It is the natural society in which husband and wife are called to give themselves in love and in the gift of life" (CCC #2207). If we wonder why we see all the moral chaos and violence and other evils in our world, it is because the family has broken down. When the family breaks down, so goes society, as the family is the "original cell of social life."
It Starts With Marriage
How healthy and necessary it is for children to grow up seeing their parents in love; not just together, but also the ways they express their love and dedication to one another. St. John Paul II reminds us:
"The first communion is the one which is established and which devlops between husband and wife: by virtue of the covenant of married life, the man and woman 'are no longer two but one flesh' and they are called to grow continually in their communion through day-to-day fidelity to their marriage promise of total mutual self-giving" (Familiaris Consortio).
From the book, The Domestic Church by Donna-Marie Cooper O'Boyle:
"The sacrament of their marriage unites the couple in love, responsibility, sacrifice, and service to one another. Sometimes this union of hearts in all things may sound 'easier said than done,' if you know what I mean. However, a love that is authentic, devoted, strong, and sacrificial will see the couple through all of the bumps in the road that they will encounter throughout their lives. The couple's love will grow in strength to the extent that they will allow it to. Sacrifice and prayer are vital."
As Catholics married in the Church, we need to remember that there are special sacramental graces we receive by virtue of Christ elevating marriage to the dignity of which it is a sign of: Christ's sacrificial and unconditonal love for His spouse, the Church. We literally participate in Christ's Divine Love. But God's flow of graces into our marriage depend upon our willingness to call upon Him and spend time with Him in prayer - both seperately and together.
"From a valid marriage arises a bond between the spouses which, by its very nature is perpetual and exclusive; furthermore, in a Christian marriage the spouses are strengthened and, as it were, consecrated for the duties and the dignity of their state by a special sacrament" (CCC #1638).
What does this mean? A Catholic married couple can call upon the graces of their sacrament through their prayers together and can believe in their hearts that they will be strengthened by virtue of the fact that they have been united in a sacred bond when they crossed over the threshold of marriage. "The grace proper to the Sacrament of Matrimony is intended to perfect the couple's love and to strengthen their indissoluble unity. By this grace they 'help one another attain holiness in their married life and in the welcoming and educating of their children'" (CCC #1641 and Lumen Gentium).
By virtue of the sacrament of marriage alone, we as husbands and wifes, can receive every grace necessary to grow in Christian perfection, in the perfection of our spousal love, and in the raising of our children for heaven. It's ALL right there! We just need to ask! :)