What are your favourite family traditions? Are there any traditions that make our family unique?

Megan:

I think that the fact that we used to eat at a different table and time than Mom and Dad was kind of interesting. Once again, I re-remembered this one in Korea, when I got tired of Koreans assuming that I was from the Brady-Bunch t.v. dinner civilization.

Mom's reading at dinnertime (in the post-Dad era) was really special. Really really special.

Lorraine:

My favourite family memory is that of drawing, reading, writing and making things together. I think this is very different from other families I know of, but I don't know if it's unique. It might be called a tradition because my parents were active role models in the "making things together" department. But we never drew or read or wrote together. My understanding of Papa's family leads me to believe that they did not do any of these things together.

Alex:

One of my favourite things is the way that Mom and I used to sit and draw together. We'd sit side-by-side (or maybe I was in her lap - I was pretty small!), and we'd create picutres together with crayons. She'd draw part of the picture, and I'd scribble all over the rest of the page - it was great fun. Often, the drawings were story-pictures about family outings and other events. I remember that family members and pets appeared frequently.I guess this is only a tradition in the sense that it fits with our family's tradition of encouraging creative expression among members. I think that's pretty unique: we seem to live in a society that subtly (or not so subtly!) encourages us to leave creative expression to the "experts" - professional artists, writers, musicians, etc. While growing up, children receive a lot of messages telling them that unless they're "good enough" to be paid professionals, they should forget about singing, acting, writing, painting and so on. No wonder kids become addicted to the TV - what else is left?!

Another tradition which I appreciate is the fact that we used to grow almost all of our own food, even to the extent of having our own cow and chickens. This is something that I can see the value of much more now that I'm all growed-up, and have done some reading about additives, pesticides, genetic engineering, antibiotics, and all the other wierd things that are done to the stuff that passes as "food" at your average supermarket. I know that it was a lot of work for Mom to do all that, but I'm grateful to her, because I think it gave us all an unusually healthy start in life.

On a less-healthy, but fun note, I used to really look forward to our Friday evening expeditions to Dairy Queen in the post-Dad era. That was a really fun family tradition: a great way to celebrate making it through another week, and spend time together.

I also remember mornings sitting at the kitchen table, consuming ludicrous quantities of coffee, and discussing... well, just about everything! This is a tradition that Corinne and I have as well: usually we go out for a coffee and talk on the mornings when we have the time. I love talking about, analyzing, and debating issues. It's a rewarding way to spend time together, and we have really interesting discussions.