Traditions comfort us. They remind us our childhoods. Our heritage unites us with our parents, grandparents, and the generations that came before us. There’s no better way to learn about your family heritage than to continue the holiday traditions you enjoyed as a child as well as adding in a few new ones of your own. You might even be melding to family traditions into your house—your spouse’s and yours. Sometimes that creates a crazy mix—but it’s twice as fun and who says you can’t celebrate Kwanza and Hanukah—and decorate a Christmas tree if you want it!

Easy Ways to Discover Your Family’s Heritage:

• Make a list of your favorite holiday recipes you enjoyed as a kid

• Ask to rummage through your mom’s recipe cards

• Go antique/vintage shopping and find some magazines from your time era (60s, 70s, etc.,) or even from your mom’s era. It’s fun making an authentic “older” recipe

• While you’re at that antique store, look around for old linens—vintage tablecloths and Christmas decorations are really fun when they have the feeling of an era gone by

• Purchase those great claymation videos, Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer made in 1964 and they’re still great!

• Share with your child what your holidays were like growing up. Tell them what your favorite toys were, that hideous outfit you had to wear that Aunt Sally gave you, and if you had a real tree of a fake tinsel tree like I did (that looked like a giant ball of aluminum foil).

• Be sure to talk about where your family originated from—are you Italian? Croation? Kenyan? Get out the globe and show your children where your family lived generations ago. Look up some traditional music and download a few ITunes. Research what holiday traditions are still in practice today.

Share Your Family Traditions with Your Playgroup

Why not share your traditions with your playgroup? Have a family recipe day and bring your aunt’s Watergate/marshmallow salad and your great-grandparent’s red clam sauce recipe. Make copies of your family recipe and share it with the other playgroup moms. You can even demonstrate how to make it as a mother-kid cooking duo just like on the Food Channel. There’s no better way for your child to learn about his/her family heritage than to share your family traditions with others.