The Start of Our Traditions

 It’s no doubt that we love to have fun, but we’re just starting to figure out our own traditions for our young family. There are certain smells, decorations, and activities that bring back memories to some of our favorite holidays, and we want to allow our kids to have their own! Additionally, having traditions can make planning holidays easier. And they’re just dang fun.

We love to travel, and usually go see family out of state for the major holidays, which has made us put off thinking of some of our own traditions. It’s taken intentional effort and planning to come up with some of our own, so I thought it would be fun to share what we’re just starting out with! These traditions certainly aren’t super original, but it’s been fun to see the kids get excited about these activities. They usually revolve around food.

Below I’ll list a few of our new traditions and share a little bit about what we do and why we do them. I’ll also share links to recipes for ones that I can! 

New Year’s Soft Pretzels:

• This one started out more on a whim than most of our new traditions, but we have had a blast with it! Basically, it is what it sounds like. Either on New Year’s Day, or whenever we can get to it around the new year, we make soft pretzels together as a family for dinner. The kids love making their own shapes out of the dough! We use this super easy soft pretzel recipe HERE. 

This year we made pizza pretzels! So yummy!

Valentine’s Fondue Dinner:

• What do you get when you have a young family in grad school? Not a date to the Melting Pot, that’s for sure! We started this tradition the first year my husband started grad school, and our daughter was 9 months old. It was a blast to have a “fancy” little fondue dinner together, rather than going out to eat. Turns out we liked it so much, we’ve done it every year since, and have added friends to the mix sometimes! It’s one of my favorite things to do! HERE is the fondue recipe we use. The cheeses we typically use are Swiss and Gruyere and it’s my favorite. We’ve also used Swiss and Sharp Cheddar with great results! 

Pizza Friday:

• Our Friday Night Pizza Night is nothing new to the world, but we’ve been pretty darn consistent with it the past few years! We almost never order pizza, so we’ve had fun trying new recipes and memorizing some of our favorites. The kids love rolling the dough and adding toppings too! It’s become such a routine that it takes very little effort to get this one done. HERE is the link for the pull-apart loaf. It turned out awesome! 

Naan Pizzas

Typical Pizza Friday

BBQ Chicken Pizza

Pizza Loaf

Pesto Flatbread Pizzas

Heart Pizza

Cast Iron Skillet Pizzas

Fall Apple & Pumpkin Picking & Carving:

• What? A tradition that doesn’t have to do with food? Who even are we?! You can find some of the best apple and pumpkin picking right here in the Midwest, so we take full advantage of what we have. Farms all around offer pumpkin and apple picking, so we usually take some friends with us in early-mid October, pick what we want and have fun with what we get. Sometimes the bounteous apples turn into apple butter or pie, but we always either carve or paint our pumpkins. One year, I may have had some fun carving with power tools.

Drilled and cut with power tools!

The Biggest Gourd We’ve Owned

Apple Picking

Thanksgiving Cheese Spread:

• We have hosted Thanksgiving once, but now there’s something I know we will have every year that we do: a cheese and meat spread (charcuterie if you will, but I don’t go too fancy with this). Growing up in Wisconsin we ALWAYS had at least one cheese ball (the ones surrounded with nuts), and multiple containers of various cheese spreads and sausage to put on crackers as a Thanksgiving appetizer. And it was just the best. Now, we do the same thing, but I made a long wooden board and lay it all out nicely as a type of centerpiece. We liked it so much, we did it again for Christmas.

Christmas Puzzle Making:

• This is another tradition we’ve only done once, but we’ve also only ever been home for Christmas once. We had a great time with it, so I really want to keep doing it every year we’re home! The trick with little kids is to get a puzzle that’s not too hard or time consuming, because their attention spans don’t last very long. We did a Christmas-themed puzzle, so that added to their excitement. As they get older, we may expand to harder or more complicated puzzles.

Christmas Cookies:

• Duh! When are Christmas cookies not a good idea? Our kids have loved rolling the dough, using the cookie cutters, and decorating to their heart’s content. We have tried various cookie and frosting recipes, and I’ll share what we’ve found to be our favorites. Christmas cookies are also a great way to share a gift with a friend or neighbor and spread some Christmas cheer! HERE is my favorite sugar cookie recipe (we don’t do the almond extract), and HERE is the frosting recipe (Not shown in the pictures, but I promise it’s the best! Just divide it up and dye it your favorite Christmas colors). 

It’s been so much fun to see the kids get involved and excited about these activities! Soon, we will have another little one to join in on the fun with us. April can’t come soon enough! Thanks for indulging in some of my trips down memory lane. 

Let me know what some of your favorite traditions are! I’d love to get more ideas for our growing family and I’m sure other readers would love more ideas as well. 

-Whitney