When you hear the word “tradition,” what comes to mind? Grandma’s Christmas morning coffee cake? Backyard fireworks on the 4th of July? An added candle to commemorate another year around the sun?
Holidays and milestones like these lend ample opportunity to continue, or create, moment-marking traditions. Rather than reserving these practices for only the peaks of life, we can reframe how we view them and integrate them as a way of living—like honoring everyday moments before they pass us by. After all, there are glimmers of celebration everywhere when we deem even the little things worthy of a memory.
Yes, traditions observe specific events as they unfold, but they can also hold the legacy of those before us. We don’t have to preserve or keep everything, nor could we. But when we take care of time-honored practices passed to us or create new ones inspired by the old, we select and cement the best of where we’ve been and carry it on. Read on for a few ideas on how to sustain your traditions, carrying them forward with remembrance—and anticipation.
Write Things Down
Writing things down not only helps us understand them better, but it can also solidify moments in our memory…tangibly. As years go on, traditions can become muddled or grow dim. But when we put pen to paper, those special events are frozen in time forever. In reading words back weeks, months, or even years later, we can recall treasured moments exactly as they unfolded. This gives us, and loved ones, the ultimate gift. The gift of remembering.
Consider investing in some quality notebooks and paper to have them at the ready whenever a memory, or inspiration, strikes. This also goes for recipes. It’s one thing to have them written on your heart and another to have them in an easily transferable format—like a paper card! Consider taking time to jot down some recipes you’ve loved over the years and add them to a box you’ll eventually be able to pass along.
Take and Print Photos
There’s nothing like discovering a collection of old photos in a family member’s home. The thrill of wondering what you’ll learn next and imagining what life was during that moment in time. It used to be an operation, even a rarity, to take and print photos quickly. We now have the technology to capture moments at our fingertips—but hardly any lasting evidence.
So, here’s your reminder: print the photos! They become heirlooms in the making the minute they’re off the hard drive and into your hands. Photos and journal entries serve as great checks and balances when it comes to remembering traditions of any kind. Printed treasures deserve frames that are just as beautiful, so here are a few we’re fans of.
Create Shared Experiences
Here’s the thing about traditions: They all start, and continue, through shared experiences. While traditions are special to carry forward, they can be just as fun to create! Something as simple as playing a game of tic-tac-toe before bedtime or making Aunt Opal's Banana Pudding can turn into a lifelong memory when you do it together with intention. If you don’t have many traditions yet, now’s the time to start them—no holiday required!
Adapt with Time
It’s inevitable that life evolves. So, to sustain traditions, they must change with us. When we reframe change as a continuation, it can feel exciting. Holding details loosely, while keeping the core of our cherished traditions the same, is a lovely way to invite others in and welcome growth with ease. It’s less about letting go and more about opening traditions up—finding ways to iterate long-standing practices to serve the season you’re in. Maybe you have to change the day you celebrate a holiday or the annual lake trip is smaller than usual, but that doesn’t make it any less special.
Tell Stories
Lastly, and perhaps most importantly, never stop telling stories. They’re all worth telling! (Read more on this in Jo’s memoir, The Stories We Tell.) Take the time to reminisce on how Grandpa made his famous Syrian Donuts in the kitchen or why each ornament has its place on the tree. Engaging in intentional conversation is the easiest way to keep traditions alive, thriving—and in the making.
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