"We seldom get into trouble when we speak softly. It is only when we raise our voices that the sparks fly and tiny molehills become great mountains of contention."
At
the close of an especially enjoyable day with our family some years
ago, ten-year-old Elaine captured the mood by exclaiming, “This
has been such a fun day. Let’s do this day over again!”
And we did, the next year. That’s how a tradition is born.
Correct
traditions have a lot to do with keeping families anchored and
strong. Traditions give children roots in the past and hope for the
future. Traditions add color and depth to family living. Traditions
make memories.
Traditional
events or activities may seem fairly insignificant standing alone,
but put together and enjoyed time after time, they spell solidarity
in family life. Blessed is the home that is rich in them.
Traditions
can range from A to Z, and there seems to be no limit to the number a
family can participate in. They don’t have to be spectacular to
be meaningful. They can vary from something as simple as a bedtime
story each night or a bright red “You Are Special” plate
on the table for someone’s birthday to an involved
four-generation family reunion attended by 250 people.
They
can be centered around holidays and special occasions or for no
reason at all, but just to be together.
Some
family traditions could include making brownies on Sunday evenings,
hiking and camping in the mountains, playing and picnicking on the
beach, Mom and Dad going on a date every Friday night, playing games
such as dominos and Scrabble, ordering Chinese take-out on New Year’s
Eve, singing around the piano, bicycling together, enjoying winter
sports such as skiing and ice skating, reading stories by the
Christmas tree in December, filling and opening time capsules every
five years, making pizzas, hunting for Easter eggs, watching
fireworks on the 4th of July, going to ball games, eating
three kinds of pie on Thanksgiving, picking berries and making jam,
baking heart-shaped cookies and delivering them to special people on
Valentine’s Day.
They
can focus on reading daily from the Book of Mormon, choosing your
favorite food for your birthday dinner, making snowmen in January,
eating French Toast at Grandma’s house, compiling scrapbooks or
digital photo albums, going shopping for school clothes in August,
taking part in the nativity program on Christmas Eve, watching a DVD
and eating popcorn at home on a Saturday night, going swimming,
roasting hot dogs and marshmallows over a campfire, having family
night every Monday, and countless others.
Traditions
can be more than fun; they can represent more than good times and
memorable occasions for families. They can do more than bind several
generations; they can bind families eternally.
And
traditions can be for good or evil, for strength or weakness, for
exaltation or damnation. This no more evident than among the Nephites
and Lamanites as recorded in the Book of Mormon.
An
example of righteous traditions being passed down through generations
is found in Alma 23:5-7 as follows:
And thousands were brought to the knowledge of the Lord, yea,
thousands were brought to believe in the traditions of the Nephites;
and they were taught from records and prophecies which were
handed down even to the present time... [A]s the Lord liveth, as
many of the Lamanites as believed in their preaching and were
converted unto the Lord, never did fall way. For they became a
righteous people.
Traditions
are as many and as fun and meaningful as you make them. However, one
tradition transcends them all. Joshua said it best when he declared:
“Choose you this day whom ye will serve, but as for me and my
house, we will serve the Lord” (Joshua 24:15).
A native of Salt Lake City, Daryl Hoole has written and lectured extensively on home
management and family living. She has served on the ward, stake, regional, and general levels of
the Church. It has also been her privilege to fulfill three missions -- once to the Netherlands
when she was young and single; another time as companion to her husband as he presided over
the Netherlands Amsterdam Mission; and the third time with two other senior couples as Asia
Area Welfare/Humanitarian Administrators, headquartered in Hong Kong.
She and her husband Hank and are the parents of eight living children, the grandparents of thirty-six, and the great-grandparents of a rapidly increasing number.
