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The Oxford Dictionary defines tradition as the following:

The transmission of beliefs, statements, customs, etc., from generation to generation; the fact of being passed on in this way.

December is what I would call the month of tradition. Everyone has traditions centered around and for this month. With family. With friends. Or even just with ourselves. Tradition is a powerful term as it can give a sense of nostalgia, stress, and frustration, as well as the purest sentiment of happiness. This month also can be a mark and trigger for loss to many. It is a fickle time of year that can be downright difficult to navigate.

My family doesn’t have many traditions, especially as us seven siblings have gotten older. As a child, I don’t recall any family-held traditions, but in my later teens and up to now, we have the traditional game night on Christmas Eve, where we play board games and card games as a family. This tradition is a cherished one, in my opinion, and brings togetherness to our large family. However, as I have been reminded this year, there has also been the less joyous tradition of my sister’s health spiking negatively. Something about the holidays really does a number on my sister’s weak immune system. Over the last several years, she has more often or not had to be taken to the hospital right before, during, or right after Christmas.

This has caused her children and the rest of my family to worry and keep our guard up just in case. To me, this has been much more noticeable in her eldest son this year. He is on edge and just full of worry. Tradition is good, but in this way, it is powerful. Tradition is created to teach habits into memory, and globally, Christmas/the holidays is the longest-standing tradition, and I believe this is why we center so many good and bad traditions around this month.

When setting and engaging in traditions, we need to remember how fickle and powerful they truly are. Take another lesser family tradition of mine, mostly because me my Mom and my sister watch it a lot whenever outside of the holidays, watching Fiddler on the Roof. As a kid, my favorite part was singing along with “If I Were a Rich Man,” but as I got older and my appreciation for good narrative and God grew, the part I used as the image of this blog became my favorite.

It is a pivotal part of the story as Tevye and his traditions are tested yet again by one of his daughters. As Tevye does throughout the story, he begins talking to God. At first, it is a one-sided conversation of utter frustration until Tevye opens up his mind and heart that going against his traditions to make new traditions was, in deed, God’s plan all along.

So as Christmas and the New Year come around, remember Tevye as a reminder not to necessarily stay steadfast to our traditions. Be open and ready to be taught the lessons of old and new traditions regardless of how they started. Every ending is a beginning waiting to happen in this crazy, beautiful, never-ending story we call life. That is the true reason for the season, is it not? No matter what you believe or don’t believe, this time of the year marks new beginnings in one way or another.

Be merry and stay healthy, all!