Pass It Down!

The months of November and December are, by far, my favorite times of the year. The way the grocery store aisles are strategically dressed with Thanksgiving dinner essentials and fiery hued leaves dance in the crisp, cool breeze of autumn. Even more so, the hint of red, green, and white dispersed throughout shopping malls, and the delicate ringing of bells in all too familiar Christmas carols always leave me with a sentimental heart. But, while these things bring nostalgia all their own, my favorite part about this time of year are my own family traditions that have been passed down from generation to generation.

Pass It Down: Our Family Traditions

Each year, around the beginning of November, I purchase beautifully decorated gingerbread houses. This tradition was birthed when my own children were smaller and have since been passed down to my grandchildren. Then, on Thanksgiving evening, once our stomachs are filled, and our hearts are too, I present a gingerbread house for each of my children’s families to take home. Once the candied houses have been revealed in the Jenkins household, we know that the Christmas season has now begun!

Traditions are important because this is how we learn our values and our belief systems. My grandchildren experience the same level of excitement, if not more than my own children had when their gingerbread houses come out of hiding. As we foster this moment each Thanksgiving, it is a way of showing them the importance of Jesus’ birth and the anticipation that everyone must have felt as they waited so long for the promised Messiah.

Traditions are also important because it teaches what our family does, how they operate, and why they do things a certain way. Do you remember any family traditions around the holidays growing up?

Pass It Down: The Lord’s Traditions

When I was a young girl, our family always purchased and decorated our Christmas tree on Christmas Eve. However, it wasn’t until I was newly married and following the traditions of my own childhood that I realized that why my parents always did that. It was because that was when all the Christmas trees went on sale!

As my children grew older and we were financially able, we began to purchase our tree earlier. And were my children upset! However, when I explained to them why their grandparents, and then their parents, always purchased our trees on Christmas Eve, they got it. And from that moment, it helped them understand just how far the Lord has brought our family throughout the years.

What an important reminder for us to search out the meaning of why our families continue in what they are shown!

Pass It Down: Generational Traditions

“These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.”

Deuteronomy 6:6-9, NIV

What do you want to pass down?

Our brothers and sisters within the Jewish community walk out the purpose of generational traditions so beautifully. They tell their story and the testimonies of the generations that have come before them.

God is alive and well, and He continues to prove Himself a miracle-working God. So, as you consider the provision, goodness, and testimony of the Lord, how can you pass these things on to your children and the world around you?

In this day and time, I truly believe that this generation really needs to hear just how faithful the Lord is. With so much back-to-back hopelessness and grief that our world is facing now, how can you be a source of encouragement and hope to the community around you? This world needs to see that there is a God who loves them and is for them. That there is a God who sees them and is alive and well.

Not only does the world need that, but our children and our children’s children do too. 

What traditions will you leave for the world that comes after you?

Let me challenge you as we continue to pass down family traditions; let’s be a generation that remembers the stories of all the Lord has done. May we be the vessels that God uses to tell His story.