By Nan McAdam -
There are many different types of families. There are extended, nuclear, and blended families. There are families who aren’t related by blood. These friend families are, sometimes, closer than blood ties. They are the family we choose. One thing, which has stood the test of time is, families who have the strongest ties have the most rituals. The rituals are better known as traditions. Why is it important for family closeness to observe holiday traditions?
Here are a few reasons I have found for participating in our important family rituals.
SENSE OF FAMILY AND CLOSENESS
It gives us time to spend with each other. This time together helps us understand and love one another. It’s a great time to drag out our old stories and memories, while we are making new ones, by being together. These memories are very important for us. We are able to call upon these memories when times aren’t going well.
A SENSE OF CONNECTION
Spending holidays together gives us a sense of being a family unit and understanding our commonalities of where we come from. A family can’t stay close without, actually, spending the time together. Even when we are away from our family we still feel this connection.
KEEPS OUR HERITAGE ALIVE
It gives us an opportunity, and the time, to teach our heritage to the next generation, our children. In the United States, we are a melting pot of cultures. We are, also, a nation of many different faiths. The holidays, gives us a chance to share the traditions from the part of the world our families originally came from. We can celebrate our family’s faith. Our families might celebrate the Christmas holidays, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, Ramadan, and the list goes on. We can, also, celebrate our American heritage, such as Independence Day, on July 4th, and our Thanksgiving tradition in November.
A TIME TO RELATE TO EACH OTHER
A chance to problem solve and communicate what is important to us. Things like goals, challenges and needs. It gives us a chance to heal from things like the loss of a loved one. There’s no better way to heal from a devastating loss than to be together as a family. To share tears, stories, grief, blessings, and eventually move through it, closer from the experience.
A TIME TO FORGIVE
Being together for holidays gives us the togetherness to forgive each other. We are able to associate the holiday traditions as a happier time. It puts us in a frame of mind to forgive each other, so we can retain our sense of closeness and family.
COOPERATION AND WORKING TOGETHER
Preparing a meal helps us relate to each other by working to create a common goal. Sharing this meal of accomplishment, helps everyone to relax and let their guard down. We gain strength and appreciation from this closeness.
In the end, it doesn’t matter what your family unit looks like to the outside world. It is only important to share the holidays and celebrate with our special traditions. This family unit is the only one who can decide what they want to celebrate. Each of our souls need to feel this special closeness and celebrations of life!
From my family to yours, have a happy holiday season!
Nan has been studying self improvement for over 20 years. She has been involved with two start up companies, from ground zero to profitability. Responsible for hiring and training their sales forces, and ongoing development of sales strategies as the businesses matured. Nan is the author of the popular 7 Day Goal Setting Course, http://www.goalsettingsecrets4u.com. For more articles read Nan’s blog: http://www.selfimprovementinformation.com.
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