I come from a family rooted in tradition. Our traditions take many forms, from big family gatherings to recipes to silly little things we do year after year. Some are meaningful, some are ridiculous, and some have been around so long I’m not even sure any of us remember how they started.

But I really believe our traditions are one of the reasons my family is so close.

They give us reasons to come together, connect, celebrate, laugh, and make memories. And after enough years, all of these little things start to become part of your family story and culture.

Not every tradition we’ve started has lasted. Some have fallen completely by the wayside, and others have morphed into something totally different as our family has grown and changed. That’s part of the fun. You keep the things everyone loves and let the rest go.

For most holidays or important days we have at least something you’ll find us doing year after year so I figured I’d share some of the things we do. 

Click on any of the links below to learn a little more about each of our fun traditions

CHRISTMAS

Christmas is the freaking Super Bowl of traditions in our family. I’m assuming it’s that way for most families.

My siblings and our spouses draw Secret Partners and spend the month finding one meaningful gift for that person. We play our homemade Christmas Chimes, tell the Nativity story, sing hymns, have a family talent show, and finish the night with Nut in the Pudding, where one person wins an increasingly ridiculous amount of Christmas cash.

On Christmas Eve, Ammon and I stay home with our kids. We eat basically the same dinner every year, complete with a sophisticated Beef Wellington and sides to die for. We read the Nativity and choose a gift we’d like to give Jesus in the coming year, which we very creatively call our Gift to Jesus.

And, of course, we have an elf who comes every dang Christmas season. Is she kind of annoying? Yes. BUT our Elf on the Shelf has a journal that we’ve been writing back and forth in for years. The kids write to Linny, and she writes back. It has become one of my most treasured possessions. If my house were on fire and I had time to grab one thing, that journal is coming with me.

We also do a Christmas book advent, for which I have a KILLER list, plus about a hundred other little things that make Christmas the undisputed winner of holidays in our house.

See All Our Christmas Traditions →

NEW YEAR

At the beginning of every year, we have a family meeting that is honestly much more of a party. We look back at the year we just lived, celebrate our wins, give each person an award for something they accomplished, and talk about what we want for the year ahead. Then we set goals, make vision boards, and present them to each other so everyone knows what we’re working toward and how we can help each other get there.

It’s one of my favorite traditions because it gives us a chance to celebrate where we’ve been and get a little more intentional about where we’re going. 

A fun tradition that we did forever and just recently retired was going rollerskating between Christmas and New Years with our entire extended family. Like my grandparents and their siblings and their children. I know. It got to be too big and too crazy so we stopped a couple years ago. It was always so dang fun though and it’s a tradition that we had for a very long time that kept us close. 

Steal our ideas and throw your own New Year’s party this year.

See Our New Year’s Traditions → (Coming soon)

VALENTINE’S DAY

Cupid doorbell ditches us. That’s pretty much the whole tradition. 😂

A knock at the door, a small gift left on the porch, and children running around trying to catch a mythical man who apparently has incredible cardiovascular endurance. The kids STILL love it.

One of my best friends has also been hosting a Valentine’s card-making party for as long as I can remember. Over the years, our little girls have grown up and joined us, which makes the whole thing even more magical. I’m sharing all the details so you can steal this tradition too.

And, of course, Galentine’s Day. At this point, I think February 13th needs to be officially recognized. Any excuse to gather your girlfriends and celebrate each other deserves a permanent spot on the calendar.

See Our Valentine’s Traditions → (Coming soon)

BIRTHDAYS

We try really hard to make birthdays feel special. Do we overdo it every single year? Probably. But as annoying as birthdays can be to pull off, I’m really grateful we get to celebrate our kids this way.

We start with a huge breakfast of the birthday kid’s choice and let them open presents in the morning so they have the whole day to enjoy them. We learned this one the hard way after waiting until nighttime once and realizing everyone was too tired to even play with anything. So there’s a free parenting hack for you.

We also let them choose between a big birthday party with friends or doing something REALLY awesome with just our family. They cost roughly the same anyway, so they get to pick. Every kid chooses differently, which I love.

At breakfast or dinner, we go around the table and share a funny or favorite memory about the birthday person and something we love about them. It’s simple, but I think it might be my favorite part. Everyone deserves one day a year where they get to sit there and hear exactly why their people love them.

Honestly, I wish we had one more really fun birthday tradition, so tell me yours. I’m looking to steal.

See Our Birthday Traditions → (Coming soon)

ST. PATRICK’S DAY

St. Patrick’s Day was a bigger deal in our household growing up because it was also my sister’s birthday. Now, it’s mostly an excuse for me to make everything green and convince my children that tiny Irish men have broken into our house.

We wear green, eat green food, and usually find evidence that a leprechaun has been up to no good keeping far away from the traps they build.

Is this holiday necessary? Absolutely not.

Do I love having another reason to make an ordinary day feel a little more fun? Absolutely.

See Our St. Patrick’s Day Traditions → (Coming soon)

EASTER

DON’T EVEN GET ME STARTED.

If you know me, you know I will not shut up about Easter. My life’s work may actually be making Easter just as big, if not BIGGER, than Christmas.

We have built some of my absolute favorite traditions around this holiday, and I want to tell you about every single one of them.

If you steal only one tradition from this entire post, steal one from this section.

See All Our Easter Traditions → (Coming soon)

FOURTH OF JULY

Every July 3rd, my entire extended family gets together for a giant sleepover. It’s kind of hilarious walking around my parents’ yard seeing grown uncles wrapped in tiny throw blankets, kids literally sprawled out on the grass, and candy and games covering every available surface.

We stay up way too late playing games, swapping stories, and chatting. The next morning we have a huge breakfast, go swimming, do a little flag ceremony, sing the National Anthem, and head home mid-afternoon for our annual Fourth of July crash-out sesh.

Around 6 p.m., we resurrect ourselves and head out for fireworks.

This tradition has lasted for generations, which makes it even more special to me. There aren’t many things I love more than watching my kids make memories inside a tradition I grew up making memories in too.

See Our Fourth of July Traditions → (Coming soon)

24TH OF JULY

Every July 24th, we pride ourselves on running the annual Deseret News 5K. We’ve been doing it since the ’90s, and somehow this is still a standing family tradition.

I don’t know how much longer it’s going to last because, honestly, waking up early to run in July is a form of torture.

At this point, I’m pretty sure I only do it for the annual family picture anyway.

Anyone else exercise purely in the name of tradition, or is it just us? I don’t understand why we do it, we just do it (Like Nike says to).

BACK TO SCHOOL

We make an entire day out of back-to-school shopping for a few different reasons. I’ll get into those more in the full blog post.

A very strict budget (that we never keep) that needs to cover new clothes, new shoes, school supplies, and i’ll cover lunch somewhere good. Something about starting the year with a few new things makes everyone feel a little more excited and confident.

And obviously, we come home and give Dad a full-blown fashion show. Duh.

This year I also bought the kids really cute journals, and I’m hoping we keep that tradition going because I’m already looking forward to reading them someday.

See Our Back-to-School Traditions → (Coming soon)

THE FIRST SNOWFALL

This might be one of the simplest traditions we have. I learned about it from one of my mission companions years ago and immediately loved the sentiment. When the first real snow falls, the kids know they’ll come home from school to hot chocolate and cinnamon rolls.

That’s it.

It’s basically a giant warm food-hug announcing that winter has arrived.  And because food is the entire tradition, obviously I’m giving you the recipes.

Get My Hot Cocoa + Cinnamon Roll Recipes →

DÍA DE LOS MUERTOS

This is a newer tradition for us, and I absolutely love it.

Have we forgotten to do it for a few years? Yep.

But honestly, I think that’s an important part of traditions too. They’re supposed to add to the culture and happiness of your family, not become another obligation. If we remember, we do it. If we miss a year, nobody gets arrested by the Tradition Police.

When we celebrate, we print out pictures of our ancestors, learn about their lives, and tell stories about who they were and how we’re connected to them.

Then we eat really good Mexican food, turn on Mexican music, and make a whole night of it.

I think it’s incredibly important for my kids to know who they are, where they came from, and something about the people whose blood is running through their veins.

See How We Celebrate Día de los Muertos → (Coming soon)

THANKSGIVING

This used to be my least favorite holiday and now it’s slowly becoming a really good day. Every November, we tape a giant roll of paper to the wall in our family room and everyone writes something they’re grateful for each day. The kids basically get permission to write on the walls for a month, so obviously it’s a hit, especially when they were little little.

My mom also made the genius decision years ago to celebrate our big extended-family holidays on the Saturday before the actual holiday. That way everyone can come without choosing between families or sprinting between three Thanksgiving dinners.

My mom hosted Thanksgiving for years, but as her kids grew up and they moved away from extended family, the tradition faded a little. A few years ago, I picked up the reins, and I’ve slowly been making Thanksgiving our own. Every year I add a little something, and it’s becoming one of my favorite holidays to host.

You’re not going to want to miss this one. I’m sharing the traditions AND the family recipes that have earned permanent spots on our Thanksgiving table.

See Our Thanksgiving Traditions → (Coming soon)

THE LAST DAY OF SCHOOL

Every last day of school we always have a water fight. I don’t know how this started. And I’m still surprised when the kids are surprised when we start flingin water balloons at them when they get home. It is such a fun day to start us off on the right foot and celebrate another year completed. 

THESE ARE THE THINGS THAT STICK

I don’t think family traditions have to be elaborate or expensive. Hot chocolate on the first snowfall counts. The same breakfast every birthday counts. A ridiculous game everyone insists on playing counts. You just keep doing something everyone loves, and eventually your kids start saying, “But we ALWAYS do that.” And that’s when you realize it isn’t really about the cinnamon rolls or the Christmas chimes or writing on the wall. It’s about belonging. It’s giving your family a thousand tiny ways to say, this is what we do because this is who we are.

I know our traditions will change. Some will disappear. New ones will take their place. But I hope we never stop giving ourselves reasons to come back together. Because one day my kids won’t live down the hall from me. They’ll have homes and families and traditions of their own, and I hope some of these ridiculous little things follow them there. Not because I care whether they make cinnamon rolls when it snows, but because I hope they remember what it felt like to belong here.

I have a whole series about Creating a better family culture. How to do that, questions to ask your kids, how to date your spouse and solidify your marriage, how to run family council or Family night, how to create a home your children want to come back to and more. If you like this type of stuff please Find More Family Ideas →