Traditions Revised… or Not

Thanksgiving is coming, followed by 32 days full of family, celebration… tradition.

Pick up any magazine this month, from Real Simple to Family Fun and you’ll find articles touting new, better, more. Better decorations, special family moments and recipes promise to revitalize your worn-out Holiday Traditions.

New can be fun… but new practices aren’t traditions yet.  While new, better and more always promise glitz, they often add up to holiday stress and clutter instead.

“Traditions are called traditions precisely because they form a link to the past.  One value of tradition is that it is a celebration of sameness, not change.” writes Dr. Richard Swenson in The Overload Syndrome.

I love creating memories with our family.  I’ve scoured blogs for new ideas and have multiple Pinterest boards dedicated to the holidays.  I guess you could say I have a tradition of developing new traditions.  Dr. Swenson’s insight has brought balance to my insatiable quest for better.

     “There is no remembrance of former things,” Ecclesiastes 1:11 warns.  I’m listening!  Slow down and enjoy today, remember the great times past and allow the routine to be a salve to a busy soul instead of being driven to scramble after some elusive perfection that doesn’t even exist.

     Again in The Overload Syndrome, Dr. Swenson instructs busy Americans to look to routines not to add spice to life, but to “add a much needed and pleasurable stability.  These routines are called programmed decisions, and they cut down greatly on decision stress.”

     During the busy holiday season, doesn’t everyone want to reduce stress?!   Look to favorite memories of the past or carefully schedule your holiday to-do’s to develop family history.  Your Thanksgiving menu and the way you give thanks to God may be your family anchor for the holiday.  Outdoor games, family singing, a football game, Grandpa’s prayer, going through the Black Friday ads, bringing a pie to the fire station… what makes your Thanksgiving uniquely yours?

     Tried and true traditions can be meaningful, memorable respites in the busy instability of life.  Dr. Swenson suggests that these family memories do more than alleviate the burden of choice and declutter schedules.  He calls traditions “a valuable anchor for the soul.”

     May your soul find rest this holiday season and your thanks be genuine to the One who gives every good and perfect gift (James 1:17).  Happy Thanksgiving.

This article was originally published in The Creekline.