Every family has a specific tradition they do, either it’s barbecue for Memorial Day or an annual fishing trip with dad or grandpa. And oftentimes we have our traditions that we do on our own. Traditions have this magical way of bringing something to life and sometimes makes us nostalgic.

The holidays can be a hub for family traditions and my family is no different. Thanksgiving is basically the same as anybody else’s but slightly different. Instead of having thanksgiving dinner in the afternoon, we had it during normal dinner hours. Sometimes, we would have thanksgiving with my best friend’s family because her family is alot like family to us. And sometimes, we would play some really bad games like Cards Against Humanity or That’s What She Said. Christmas is more formal, if I say so myself. Christmas Eve, we would have surf and turf for dinner. When I gave my life to Christ, we started going to Christmas service prior to having dinner. Christmas Day, we would wake up early, most of the time my parents are slow just getting there for the festivities under the tree. We would start with stockings and then onto the presents. Afterwards, we would have orange rolls for breakfast and do scratch-it lottery tickets. My family doesn’t do much with lottery tickets, especially scratch-its, but Christmas is when they go to town with it. We would get about 4-5 tickets each, give or take. For dinner, we have just about the same with thanksgiving. New Years, we used to celebrate by having friends over, but we just wing it with New Years. For myself, it depends on what is going on around town or in my circle.

And it’s not just Christmastime, other parts of the year and other holidays comes with traditions as well. The fall is where we have the most traditions out of the year outside of Christmas. In early fall, we would see a football, Oregon State Beavers to be specific, go to Oktoberfest in a remote farming town called Mount Angel OR where Oktoberfest overtakes the entire town annually. When I moved to Portland, I started my own fall tradition, which is to go to the zoo around mid October.

So I wonder, what are your favorite traditions?