How to Create Traditions
The Caldwell (and Mahan) Family out for a night at Second City
The Holiday season is upon us and it got me thinking about Traditions. Each family has their own, and I love asking about them. Catch me any day between November 1st and Dec 31st, and I guarantee you I’m asking someone “Do you have any special plans or traditions around the Holidays you are looking forward to?”
I decided to Google “Why are traditions important?” as they’ve always felt so special and felt like they needed to be held up, and in high regard, to me. What I learned is not surprising, but eloquently put, “Traditions help us to feel like we belong in this world when we've come from somewhere else. It also helps us to fit in when we've always been in the same place. And it provides a sense of belonging for those who may feel like an outsider.” In other words, Traditions make us feel part of something greater than ourselves and are like gravity pulling us in towards them to offer a sense of belonging to a group of otherwise independent parts. Yes, this about sums it up for me — traditions have to be held up because they take what is by nature independent and bring them together, so important to a family or group of friends growing up and growing, naturally, apart.
While some families do things like open one Christmas gift on Christmas Eve, others have “Uncle Eddie” tell that story every year by candlelight, still some look forward to a very specific food item or dish that ushers in another season of tidings. Whatever it is, I think traditions are so special and I love hearing about them.
Here are three special traditions I look forward to around this time of year with my family — The Mahan Family Tradition, The Caldwell Family Tradition, and the Little Shredders Tradition.
The Mahan Family Tradition
The Mahan Family is my core family: my mom, dad, brothers (Greg and Brad), their significant others (Steph and Claire), and us (Ronnie, Charlie, and me!). My mom is one of 11 children (Irish Catholics!) and my dad is one of three, in both cases, the families are spread around the country, so since I was young, Thanksgiving and Christmas was just the five of us. The blessing in that meant we got to create our own traditions! I’m not sure how it became a thing, but we started doing Steak and Mushroom Fondue one year for Christmas dinner and the tradition just stuck. I soooo looked forward to it. We’d sit around the table, each cooking a piece of steak and mushroom, one by one, until we were full. One year, as my dad prepared the Fondue Oil for dinner, there was an accident that sent him to the ER, so after that, Fondue was cancelled and we needed a new tradition. My mom came up with the idea of going out to dinner, and while there weren’t any Fondue restaurants open on Christmas eve nearby, there were in fact Hibachi restaurants open, and so that became the thing. Now, every Christmas eve, we go to Hibachi as a family. Ronnie is the champion of the rice bowl and egg toss, though I’m sure Claire will one day eclipse him.
The Caldwell Family Tradition
When Ronnie and I lived in the city, one of our favorite things to do was catch a live comedy show — be it Standup, at The Laugh Factory, or Improv at The Second City, we just love to laugh. One year, I got wind of the fact that Second City had a really funny Holiday Revue show, where they took the best skits from the year’s shows and brought them together in a single show. I booked us tickets to the show a few nights before we took off to go “home” for the Christmas Holiday. We laughed until we cried and on our way out the door said “we should do that again next year.” When next year came around, it just so happened my parents were going to be downtown for something, so we invited them along. A few years after that, we thought, “wouldn’t it be fun to take the whole family?” and so we did! Everyone LOVED the show and on our way out, said “we should do that again next year.” So this tradition that Ronnie and I started to get our jollies in before the Christmas Holiday at home, is now a tradition that we’ve brought on ourselves. Each year, we splurge on tickets to Second City for the whole family and everyone gets to enjoy a night out on us.
The Little Shredders Family Tradition
You know the kind of family, that is not actually family, but they are… you know… family? That’s the Little Shredders for us, a hodge-podge of people that are either actual family, significant others of family, or friends of family, that have all been brought together over their mutual love for: New Buffalo, Skiing, and each other. And every year, we take a ski trip out west together in a different location with great skiing. This year, we’ll be headed to Sun Valley, ID, but in previous years we’ve done Big Sky, Jackson Hole, and Grand Targhee. It all started when my little brother, Brad, joined a family ski vacation for our friends the Dawsons. They had a ball, and the next year, the group expanded, the year after that, it expanded even more. Now you can catch us rolling about 14 people deep on a week long vacation in March seeking out the best snow in the US (maybe one day we’ll go international!) to “shred some gnar” as the boys would say. It’s always a great time, with lots of laughs, Malort, and Creed sing-a-longs.
I’m guessing our traditions look different from yours, but traditions can be created whenever you like, it just starts with a little bit of intention, willingness to experiment and togetherness.
What traditions do you look forward to? What traditions do you want to sunset? What traditions would you like to start this year?
I’m excited to hear. Trust me, if you every run into me after November 1st, I’ll be asking…
