Traditions, old and new, for our new Family

With a wonderful holiday and the Advent Season upon us, I thought It might be about time to talk about Family Traditions.

Husband's family and my family don't really have any "set in stone" family traditions for Christmas time.

I mean we both grew up getting (or getting out) a Christmas Tree and decorating it. We both grew up with cookies being made. We both have the typical "go see extended family" over the Holiday season. We both have holiday movies (or at least movies) we "must" watch. We both waited until Christmas Morning (with the option of opening one on Christmas Eve) to open presents. We both got Stockings. We both went out and looked out Christmas Lights in the other neighborhoods. We both had Advent Calendars and occasionally Wreaths. We both would do some sort of outing special for the Holiday, be it the Nutcracker or some sort of show or concert or a trip to the Christmas'd Zoo, etc. While Husband's family do have the "German" Pickle Ornament, it is not something that he required when we kept to ourselves last year at Christmas.

So like I said...nothing that is really a MUST do other that just basic "let's get into the season" sort of stuff.

Our Christmas Traditions

Over this last year and a half of marriage, Husband and I have decided on a few Traditions that we are going to do for the Advent Season.
1) We shall continue keeping an Advent Calendar of some sort.
2) We shall start our own "German" Pickle when we have kids of our own.
3) We shall have mailed out our Christmas Cards and have purchased all the presents by December 6th which is St Nicholas Day and we celebrate Husband's Polish heritage by eating an orange (or an orange flavored something.
4) We shall have a real Wreath upon our door.
5) While I did not like egg nog when I was younger, I have grown to LOVE my MiL's Egg Nog so that has become a tradition for us which we must drink from the Moose Head Mugs I got Husband for his birthday.
6) We clean out our closets and rooms before the holiday in order to donate that we which we don't need. I look forward to passing this tradition onto our someday maybe children.

While writing this post, I have been thinking about other traditions for other holidays which we have fallen into.

Other Holiday Traditions:

At Groundhog day (Also known as Candlemas Day, on February 2nd), we watch Groundhog Day and laugh at the silliness of the "holiday".

On Valentine's day, we don't stress. Maybe we go out if we are in need of a date, maybe we exchange small gifts, maybe we stay in and eat popcorn and watch Die Hard. Depends on what our love tanks need then and there.

At St David's day (March 1st), we (mainly me) celebrate the Welsh Heritage of my family by wearing a daffodil or leek and eating Welsh rarebit and sweet breads.

At St Patrick's day (March 17th) we eat and drink Irish fare, wear green, and avoid the idiots who think it might be ok to drive.

At Mardi Gras, we have a King's Cake, eat a good meal, decide what to abstain from for Lent, and wear purple (justice), gold (power), and green (faith).

At Easter, we join with our family (or family we choose) to eat a meal together after church.

On June 1st, our wedding anniversary, we exchange traditional gifts and have nice meal (and, if possible, have a night away).

We have meal appropriate for the Jewish High Holidays and say our Blessing with the holiday in mind.

Besides our hosting of Thanksgiving and having the "usual" dishes that we both prefer to make, I have instituted a tradition of playing Rock Band.

At St Andrew's Day (November 30th), we eat Scottish fare and I wear my MacLeod Tartan.

On December 1st, we exchange small gifts for our "demiversary" and have behave much like we might on Valentine's day.

This tradition is pending for several reasons, but nevertheless: For New Year's Eve/New Year's Day/Hogmanay, when we have our own home, hopefully we can host the party complete with the First Footing Celebration. Perhaps we can host a potluck brunch and the first person to cross the threshold of our home with a dish is named the First footer. and we can give small gifts of salt, shortbread, whiskey or something Scottish and serve steak pie or stew.