1. Keep it Simple
The best family holiday traditions are the ones everyone can enjoy with minimal fuss and planning. Review the traditions you and your spouse celebrated when growing up. Keep the ones that bring a smile to your face, and recycle the ones that instill a sense of obligation or dread.
2. Reach Out With Technology
Today's families must overcome geographical challenges to keep holiday traditions alive. Use every communication technology at your disposal to connect with far away relatives. Create a password-protected family web page to update family members on holiday gatherings. Download video clips of family holiday activities to your computer, and email them to those who couldn't attend.
3. Combine Learning and Fun
One way to make a holiday fun and meaningful for families is to learn more about it. You can do this by reading with your family. Instead of going to the bookstore or library with your family, add suspense and anticipation to the learning process. Choose a predetermined number of days before the holiday to begin your learning quest. Gift-wrap a book for each day, and let family members take turns opening a book each day. For example, you could unwrap a Christmas book for each day of Advent, and read it together as a family.
4. Don't Forget the Food
Create family holiday traditions that focus on food. You can think outside the box, and include foods that please your palate rather than those that meet someone else's idea of tradition. If no one in your family relishes turkey, you can decree that Thanksgiving in your house always means filet mignon and creme brulee.
5. Time in a Bottle
Mark the passage of time for your family by creating a time capsule. Instead of a static time capsule that you put away for 20 years, add more material to the capsule when the holiday arrives. Review the material from past holidays, and discuss how your family has changed since the last holiday.
