The Love of Family

We have many family traditions in my family. These are little traditions that have come into our family over the years as we grow and there become more of us. spending holidays at two different houses most of the time makes for lots of traditions to come about. We usually spend our holidays in one of two places my mom’s parents house or my dad’s parents house. this makes it hard sometimes to make both sides of the family happy when there isn’t a lot of us anymore. My family is very small and keeps getting smaller. When I was young my great grandparents on both sides passed away. Ever since then we haven’t really had very many big family gatherings over the years. For the most part Christmas is spent at my aunt’s house who doesn’t have kids with my other aunt and her two kids and my grandparents my two parents and two brothers. We don’t get together with both sides of the family all together very often the only time that really happens is at sporting events for me of either of my brothers. Although my grandparents on both sides aren’t usually at the same gatherings they are both very supportive of my family and a big part of our family history and making traditions.
When I was little we would always go to my great grandmother’s house for dinner after church on Christmas eve. Since we always go there my dad’s parents would go down to New Hampshire to spend the night and do Christmas morning with my cousins. Since the passing of my great grandmother we have come up with our own tradition for Christmas Eve. As a family we always go to the same Chinese restaurant on Christmas eve. We always go to church then go to dinner. We go to the same Chinese restaurant and whenever we go in the owner knows us and we always talk to her. We have a good relationship with her because we have been doing it for years now. We then go to my mom’s side for lunch and then go to my dad’s parents for more meat pie and cheesecake. We always go to my dad’s parents house after because they want to see us but it’s hard to do both all in one day. Being such a small family we are we have many little things that have a bigger meaning to all of us as a family. We have an Easter tradition that only started a couple years ago at my mom’s parents house where when we go on our Easter egg hunt we have to get a picture of my two brothers and my two cousins and I with the buckets to collect the eggs on our heads before we can start the hunt. This started with my younger brother putting it on his head because it started to rain and he didn’t want his hair to get wet. We always go to my mom’s side and have ham for Easter. As a family we go to Easter Sunday mass. After we go to church as a family we go over to my mom’s parents house and usually we are there at twelve but don’t have food till four if we are lucky. We usually sit around and talk about the two sports that my brothers and my cousin and I all play. We then eat pie and then my uncle always tries to rush my cousins out of the house considering they have a two hour drive home and he has to work in the morning. This is how our new traditions are made this year we couldn’t make it to her house with the passing of my cousin’s grandfather. This year we didn’t get to repeat our traditions but maybe this will spark new ones to be carried on. This is very unique to our family because I don’t think any other family can say that their grandmother makes them put a bucket on your head for a picture.
We have lots of family traditions that are unique to our family. We have a history of French Canadian and that is why on holidays we love to have meat pie. We have some traditions that have started within the family and some that have just come down. Those are just two out of a lot that we have as a family. We aren’t all very close on both sides but we still carry on many similarities between the two. How we go have lunch and it is meat pie and then go and have meat pie for dinner at the other sides house. I want to carry on the traditions that my family has started and carry them on when I have kids and hope that they carry them on too.

Photo on Foter.com