Cultures and Traditions

Take a second and think about Thanksgiving. What's on the table? Are there decorations around the house? Who all is with you? Chances are that you're thinking about a Thanksgiving that you have already experienced. Either from your childhood, or more recently.

It's amazing how much of our lives are shaped by traditions and cultures. During childhood, we are influenced by the traditions of our parents, and grandparents. These could include holiday observance, special recipes for foods, or something as simple as whether the toilet paper roll will go over or under. During these first years of our lives, we are molded and shaped by these familial traditions, and they become a part of who we are as individuals.

Fast forward to young adulthood, and you typically have a span of time as an individual. Perhaps in college, a person is faced with time to figure out what their interests are s an individual, and what traditions they will keep.

Then comes marriage. The unity between two people is a monumental time, and also a time of serious change. Not only do two people come together, but two families are in a sense forever connected afterwards.

Marriage is a time when traditions and cultures are recreated. Two people have been raised and molded by their families of origin, and now they have come together to form a family of creation. Where they will have their own children, and create their own traditions.

It's an amazing cycle that repeats itself over and over.

In your family of creation, you can decide on values and traditions from both families that you'd like to keep, but also aspects that you would like to leave out. It's yours for the designing, and there isn't a set way to do it, or not to do it. That's the wonderful thing about families. They are all unique and individual, and are taken one step at a time.