Traditions create a sense of safety, anticipation and joy. I can think back to traditions my parents created and they immediately make me feel happy. I once came across a quote by Susan Lieberman that read, “Family traditions counter alienation and confusion. They help us define who we are; they provide something steady, reliable and safe in a confusing world.” Powerful sentiments. In fact, it makes me want to create more traditions. One that we have carried out for 16 years now is the rainbow cake.
YEAR 16
This year my children (now 18 and 20) made the cake. I helped frost it, but they insisted we make it late last night instead of waiting for the morning. I looked over at them adding coloring to the batter and I was instantly transported to when they were five and three. And some things never change. They still argued over who gets to color three cakes instead of two seeing as there is an odd number of layers.
HOW IT ALL STARTED
I’ll never forget sitting and the small table for kindergarten orientation (meet the teacher) and snapping a photo of these crayons. As a former teacher, freshly sharpened pencils and new crayons have my heart. But there was something about these brightly colored crayons that I loved. And so the rainbow cake was born for our family.
At that time, these cakes weren’t necessarily unique, but it brought so much joy to these faces. I still remember letting them help make the batter with the mixer. It’s like it was yesterday. And so, every single year we’ve made this cake in anticipation of the new school year. The kids would come home from their first day and tell me about their teacher while eating a giant piece of rainbow cake. The tradition stuck and just last night Riley said, “I’m going to do this with my kids.” My heart nearly exploded.
There are other traditions that are near and dear to our hearts. And some I hope to still start. It’s never too late and I firmly believe that these traditions (whether new or old) absolutely create something reliable and safe. And goodness knows we could all use a bit of that; no matter what age.
Would love to know a tradition you and your family count on each year.
