Explore your holiday culture

Holiday gatherings are the perfect time to dig into your family’s culture and traditions.

Folkpatterns, a joint project of Michigan 4-H and Michigan State University, offers suggestions of questions that can be discussed at celebrations to strengthen family bonds. 

Consider recording family members’ answers so they can be shared with those not in attendance and saved for the future.

• Do you get a live tree? Did older relatives have different traditions for the tree?
• READ MORE: Grow your own Christmas trees
• What are the oldest holiday decorations in the house, and where did they come from?
• Which decorations are homemade, and who made them?
• Are there certain movies or television shows you always watch around the holidays?
• Do you open gifts all at once or one at a time?
• Do you have any relatives who saved wrapping paper or used newspaper for wrapping paper?
• What favorite gifts did older relatives receive as children? Was there a gift they wanted but didn’t get?
• READ MORE: Don't let stress steal your holiday joy
• Is there a certain place stockings are hung, and are they opened before or after gifts?
• Are there particular recipes that are always made for the holidays? What were holiday meals like when older relatives were growing up? What would the children’s ideal holiday meals be?
• What do you do when you get together? Do you play board games or watch football? How have those things changed over the years?
• Which traditions do the children think they will keep when they leave home and start their own families? Are there any they definitely don’t want to continue?

In addition to examining your family’s traditions, consider starting new ones. Here are some ideas:

• Try holiday foods from around the world. Search the internet for recipes or shop online for treats and other items from different countries. Order goodies from the areas where your family traces its ancestry, or sample items from other corners of the world. 
• READ MORE: Make a new tradition
• Celebrate the official beginning of winter and the shortest day of the year by watching the sun rise and set December 21.
• Spend an evening or entire day together as a family with no electric lights, possibly playing games or reading aloud by candlelight, singing, or playing musical instruments. Bundle up and go outdoors after dark for a bonfire.
• Have children help prepare a special family recipe that has been passed down through the generations. If you don’t already have one, ask an older relative ahead of time what their favorite holiday treats or meals were as a child. Do a little research and surprise them by finding the recipe and making it for your gathering.