I think every family has certain ways that they do things, or ways that they celebrate the holidays.
I was thinking of our family traditions. Some you don't even realize that they are, while of course others you do.
I am in the store, and I need rice, I start looking for the River brand of rice. I stopped and thought about it. Why do I use River brand? The answer is of course because my Mom did. Now as far as I know, there is no difference between one brand of plain old rice over another. I realized it was a tradition in essence. Same thing with Robin Hood brand flour, my Mom always used it, so when I had my own household, I just followed what I saw Mom buy. There were quite a few things, I realized that I bought, brand wise, because that is what my Mom did.
I found it rather interesting, so I tried to figure out how my Dad had influenced me on brands. Sure enough, once I thought about it, I realized I used Quaker State Oil and WD-40 because that is what my Dad always bought.
Of course there are holiday traditions that were passed on also. Turkey for Thanksgiving, along with pie, and stuffing. Now, I am kinda strange, I use to not like stuffing for some odd reason, and then my Mom started buying Stove Top brand stuffing mix, instead of making it from scratch. I liked it, and that is what I use when I make stuffing. Plain old Stove Top, none of that raisin, or apple or anything else for me thank you. I had a friend, who is no longer with us, but when he was alive I would always save him some Stove Top, he had that same quirk as me, he only liked Stove Top, and each holiday his wife would outdo herself to make something new and different. His wife thought both of us were rather strange that we would rather have a stuffing mix than something homemade, but there you are.
My Mom would always bake pies, cakes and candies for the holidays. Yummy fudge, so rich that you could only eat 1 piece at a time, or peanut butter fudge. I have the recipe for the Mamie Eisenhower fudge, and I love it! Potato peanut butter candy, peanut butter balls, nut rolls, orange cookies with icing, and the list goes on.
We would put our tree up the week before Christmas, Dad and I would decorate it, and Mom would critique our handiwork. New Years Day we would take it down. I do the same thing. Presents were put under the tree on Christmas Eve, and I still do that.
When my Mom made dill pickles she always put a grape leaf and a dill top with seeds in the jar along with her other ingredients. She said that is how her Mom made them, and that is how her Grandmother made them. Family tradition.
Now I somehow, managed to pick up something that my Grandmother Cassie did, that my Mom never did. When I cleaning or picking up around the house, if I find a safety pin, I will hook it to the bottom of my shirt, and if I find more, I will just hook it on to the one already there. When I go to my bathroom, I have a small container I keep the pin's in, and I will unhook them and drop them in. One day Mom realized what I was doing, and she said to me, that my Grandmother Cassie did the same thing. I thought that was kind of nifty.
So what are your family traditions?
Blessed Be.
