Family Traditions

What are your family traditions?
We all have them. Some go deeper than other's. They get changed a little over the years and generations, but we keep them because they make us feel connected. They connect us to good memories, warm feelings and moments in time that you don't want to forget. They also bring to remembrance the love your family shared. We celebrate the good times and the momentous occasions to be remembered and cherished. We store it in the hard drive of our mind to be brought back year after year or even generation to generation. It becomes a trademark of our family. Something our children can count on, and they do! 
Our family is big on traditions. Sometimes to a fault. It's hard for us to accept change, but we have to sometimes. It runs deep for both my husband and me. We both grew up with a lot of traditions passed down. For example, this week is my husband's birthday. Though he likes a variety of cakes and ice cream, I can always count on him asking for yellow cake with chocolate frosting and chocolate chip ice cream. I asked last night, and he came out with the same answer. I don't think it would feel like his birthday without it! In his family of seven children your birthday celebration was special and you picked your favorite meal and your cake and ice cream. Tradition continues on!   
In the picture above you will notice the little boy with the red wagon. That is my brother, cute as can be, and he loved his little red wagon. He and his brother played forever with this wagon, hauling dirt, toys, and their pets all around. My father loved watching them so much that when he had his first grandson, you can guess what he bought for him!  Thus, the tradition of the little Red Wagon began. Each grandson, all four of them, received their red wagon from Pa-paw. My son, his last grandson, received his wagon only 6 month's before daddy passed away. Daddy was battling cancer.  A real bitter-sweet day for us all. We cried, hugged and cherished each moment of that day as daddy pulled him around the yard in his red wagon.

No surprise then, we have carried on this tradition in our family. The theme of the baby shower for our first grandson was "A Red Wagon Welcome" in honor of my daddy.  Jack just turned 3 earlier this year and will really enjoy his wagon this summer with his two baby brothers!  Yep, little did we know we would have three grandsons in a row! Now what? Well, we will have to be creative in the red wagon tradition. Thank the Lord they make all different kinds of wagons now. Grandson number two will be getting a  double seater for him and his baby brother, and then, we will have to get a third one as the baby gets older. These family traditions are still precious even though sometimes a challenge. I could not bear the thought of one grandson not getting his own wagon. So, it may get interesting if my daughter has more boys! We can have our own parade in the neighborhood in the summers to come! I can just imagine the look on my daddy's face if he could see them all now. He would love it.
So, enjoy your traditions. Start them now, if you haven't already. They bring you a lot of joy, a lot of memories, and a lot of security as your children remember the good things in life. God tells us in Philippians 4:8  to think on the things that are true, honest, just, pure, lovely, and of good report. This brings us a peace in this troubled world as we lean on Him.  
Till next time,
Mamacooker

Family...Where did we come from? Who do we look like? Where did we get our talents?

Family.....Where did we come from? This became a very curious subject as I worked on our family heritage album. We all knew where our grandparents and parents were from, but that was only one piece of the puzzle. Going through these old photos and finding out their story made them real. These were my people, my family, yet I never knew them. I had never even met them except for my grandma who is the baby in this photo.

As we looked at these photos we could see that family features had been passed down. The eyes, the ears, the hairlines, they were all familiar. One of them had the beautiful red hair that showed up in our family. We could see our relatives in these people, but please tell me who started the crooked toes, and genetic tendancy to gain weight! That was not fair!

What we could not see were the talents or weaknesses each possessed. We wondered, were who were the carpenters in this family? The God given talent of skilled carpentry runs through this family of ours. Good work ethics? We have that. Our men and women are not afraid of hard work. Who were the muscians? Piano players, guitar players, singers. Worriers, who gave us that blessing? We have a lot of "worry warts" as my mama called them in both sides of our family. Strong women run deep in this family also. Women who have looked adversity in the face and kept going. That little baby in the above photo grew up to be the mother of 14 children, 6 of whom she buried at birth or shortly after. A set of quadruplets among them. Imagine that heartbreak. She was strong when she needed to be, soft spoken in her talk, and always faithful. She and my grandfather worked hard and had strong character. They raised 2 sons and 6 daughters that were also strong and that have brought 5 more generations into this world. One of their great-great granddaughters has just faced heartache and trauma in the life of her child, yet she has risen above her circumstances, and put her faith in God, and He is seeing her through her darkest moments of her young life. Amazing!

I cannot imagine who will be here 5 generations from now. I do know that the life we lead and the legacy we leave will have an affect on them. I hope they can look back at our photos and prayer journals and see the faith in God that we had, and that they can see we didn't quit when life got hard. I feel like we have been through so little compared to my grandparents, but I know that it's just as important for us to keep on going forward just the same. To be strong, follow God, do our best in this life to be the example for those that follow.