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.
When my daughter started kindergarten, my husband had his monthly meeting for work so he would be home late.I started the tradition of R and I going to dinner – she would get to choose. We changed it up a bit once she went to boarding school, and we went out together the night before she left. I hope she does that with her kids!
The other tradition I have had, even before we had our daughter is I make Christmas cut-out cookies. My Mom started it when we were kids. Over the years she added peanut butter blossoms, Buckeyes and I added chocolate covered peanuts to the list. So every year, I make several batches of Christmas cut-out cookies and make homemade frosting . I choose a day, and we sit down (by we, it is me, my husband, 92 year old Mom, 26 year old nephew, and if my daughter is home) and we frost, probably 300 cookies. So then I give out trays of cookies and then we have the rest for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day when I have family over to celebrate the holiday.
Oh I love these traditions so much. So special. I can picture you all frosting the cookies. My mom always did something similar. And so lucky to be a recipient of your beautiful cookies. Thank you for sharing.
Family traditions are so special.
For birthdays, the kids get their bedroom door decorated while they are asleep the night before. It’s a nice little surprise on their birthday.
For Christmas, we decorate cookies. I’m not a baker so we’ve often bought pre-made packages. It’s just so we can spend time together. We also have one night where we drive around the neighborhood looking at Christmas lights, drinking our special hot cider drink, and listening to classic Christmas music. And finally, on Christmas morning, breakfast is always a breakfast fried rice (just fried rice made with bacon, eggs, and onion). My oldest especially likes that.
I try to keep things simple and to what I will actually get done. The memories are built over time, laughter, and consistency.