Custom-Made

In the Season of Traditions, How Does a Family Make Its Own?

WE'VE BEEN TALKING a lot about traditions at Shallow Center Central of late. Even the most frenetic, seat-of-the-pants household likes to do things a certain way, following its own traditions, at Christmastime, and we're no exception. The wrinkle this year is that the 4-year-old, after a year or two of mostly wondering what all the fuss is about, has truly come into her own in terms of holiday immersion. She's all about speculating on gifts from Santa, bugging her mom and dad to tend to the Advent calendar each day, watching A Charlie Brown Christmas every night, and the like. And that has Mrs. SC and I trying to figure out how to establish our own family traditions so that she grows up, as we did, with fond memories of the season and an understanding that her home is a place where special, unique things happen in late December.

But how to do that? Must traditions develop organically, almost of their own volition? Or can a family do something cool just once and decide on the spot that it will happen year after year and, yes, become a tradition? This is what we've been kicking around. In my house, for example, Christmas morning meant donuts for breakfast; in hers, it was monkey bread. So now that it's our house, what should The Girl eat every December 25? I'm not sure I'm comfortable having the power to create traditions out of scratch, as if I'm some Santa on Earth or something. Damn this holiday stress ...

Comments

[Iain]

I think that, whatever tradition you decide to create, it needs to feature Brussels sprouts... :-)

[bd]

Don't bust on Brussels Sprouts. We share a tradition with our Jewish neighbors. We go to their house for their Hannukah party and they come to ours for Christmas dinner. Bsides the cross-pollination of cultures which is a great thing for kids to experience, it's just a fun party time. One year I made B'Sprouts/Carrots with a Horseradish Cream sauce for Xmas (absolutely delish btw) and ever since then I have had to bring them to their party because they loved them so much. Thankfully, I am allowed to vary the menu at our house.

But as noted by Tom above, traditions start organically and I can't think of anything more organic than Brussels Sprouts.

[Mike]

Monkey Bread rocks. It does not get the kudos it deserves (Besides the fact it is the only thing I can bake that comes out correctly).