Family traditions give meaning

	Patti Christensen

We never really know how it happens but between Mass on Christmas Eve and Christmas morning, Baby Jesus is placed in the nativity scene manger. We are all so glad that the time has finally come that no one argues about whose turn it is. Rather, we all rejoice and exclaim, "He's here! Our Savior is born!" Going to Mass together and putting Baby Jesus in the manger on Christmas Eve or Day are but two of our family traditions.

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When Erin, our first, was two we began a tradition that the cousins look forward to on Christmas Day. In an effort to keep the focus on Jesus at Christmas, we baked a birthday cake for Jesus. The real teaching came as we drew the manger scene on top the cake with frosting in squeeze tubes. Each year the cousins rush through Grandma's front door to the table holding the cake and wait their turn to decorate (youngest to oldest).

The conversation that takes place while waiting is where the learning happens. Just how big was the star that the three magi saw? Should it fill the entire top half of the cake? Could Mary possibly have owned a jeweled robe? What does an angel look like? Have you ever seen one? The older cousins help the younger although the youngest is now 11 and most of the others are teens and young adults. Despite age the decorating is still top priority, the tradition continues, and at dessert we sing a rousing "Happy Birthday" to Jesus.

Although we all celebrate the same central mystery of Christ's birth, each family approaches the mystery with the traditions and the rituals which speak of their own circumstances, or backgrounds, and which rise out of the experiences that our families have found to be meaningful.

We share the stories of our traditions if for no other reason than to inspire one another to build and create a quality of life in our homes and families - a way of engaging and expressing in sign and gesture what lies in each of our hearts. As parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles, we teach our children about their faith, what we value, and what gives life meaning.

Traditions are important to family and are a teaching tool. Pope Benedict XVI speaks of the importance parents have in their children's lives when he states, "Parents are the first evangelizers of children, a precious gift from the Creator, and begin by teaching them to say their first prayers. In this way a moral universe is built up, rooted in the will of God, where the child grows in the human and Christian values that give life its full meaning" (From the Vatican, 5/17/05). How we celebrate Christmas speaks volumes to our children about our faith and its importance in our lives.

Share the traditions of Christmas with your family and friends. Talk about what you do and why you do it. Just as the traditions you do today may come from years gone by, the traditions of today become the traditions that our children will celebrate in years to come.

Traditions are our connection to the past and our legacy for the future. Traditions bind together one generation to another and create a family identity and define who we are. Celebrate family traditions with enthusiasm!

(Christensen is the Green Bay Diocese's consultant for Family Ministry. She lives in Menasha and has a degree in communications from UW-Milwaukee and a master's in pastoral studies from St. Francis Seminary, Milwaukee.)