I’ve only been married for a little over a year and I’m already planning the traditions for our (hopefully) huge family.

Is that wrong?  If so, I don’t want to be right.

I mean, life is all about traditions, if you think about it.  Most people have the tradition of waking up at the same time every morning and drinking their drink of choice (yours is probably coffee and mine is diet coke – I’d rather accidentally slosh cold diet coke on my face in the morning than scalding hot bitter coffee).

Traditions are HUGE.  Traditions are what your kids will remember of your family.  If you sleep in on the weekends – your kids will grow up to say “When I was younger we always got to sleep in on Saturdays and then we’d wake up to the smell of pancakes”.  BAM.  What a nice little nostalgic story they have to tell their friends.

My problem is that I just can’t make up my mind for what kind of traditions I want to have for my family.  Like, should we open Christmas presents on Christmas Eve or Christmas morning?  Should we always have Turkey for Thanksgiving or should we have lamb?  (is that even a legit question?)  Should we hide easter eggs on Easter?, should we read the story of Jesus in the Manger on Christmas?, should we go take our kids trick or treating?, should we celebrate birthdays by making every single dish the birthday kid wants?, should we hide a nickel under the kid’s pillow when they lose that first tooth?, should we…..should we….??   There’s SO MUCH TO DECIDE RIGHT NOW and I just can’t even DEAL with it.

All I know is that the one tradition we WILL have as a family is that every Christmas, regardless of whether we’ll be “in town” on Christmas eve/morn, we will have a Christmas tree.  Because whether you want to admit it or not, it just doesn’t feel like Christmas when you don’t have the tree – the smells, the looks, the daily picking up of the needles.  You know, all those precious memories.  And the kids love it.  They love gathering with the family to decorate the tree and thinking about what they have to look forward to this season.  And then when it’s all decorated, you sit back on the couch, with the crackling fire (yes, always a fire) in the background and you all just look at it….take in the beauty.

Homemade Hot Chocolate Recipe

By Joy Published: December 3, 2012

• Yield: 1 mug
• Prep: 10 mins

Adapted from Jeyrashi's Kitchen

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons cocoa powder
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 2 tablespoons water hot
• 2 cups milk
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Instructions

1. In saucepan over medium heat, combine cocoa, sugar, water, salt and cinnamon.
2. Add milk and stir over heat until boiling.
3. Remove from heat and add vanilla extract. Pour into mug and ENJOY!

Yep, that is tradition number one on my list for my family.

Tell me your heart’s not a pile of mush right now.