Traditions

In a recent conversation with David, out of nowhere, probably giving him contextual whiplash, I said "I want to do more traditions."  Ok....random?!  I had no ideas of a particular tradition I wanted to start, really I just wanted to do more of them.  So our first, new tradition was born last night.  Drum roll, please...The Annual Campbell Feast (original, right)!

Anything that has a special name and balloons is a winner to Caleb.  We told him about it the night before and I heard him explaining it to Livvy several times throughout the day in a very excited voice saying, "Tonight is a special night!  It's the Annual Campbell Feast!"

This tradition is our way to start the new scholastic year and included the following:

-a big dinner (temporal feast)

-personal letters from Mom and Dad to each child

-introduction, discussion, and signing of this year's family motto (spiritual feast)

-Father's blessings for everyone (another spiritual feast)

-our dessert was homemade 'blessing donuts' as Caleb has named them

Everyone had a balloon at their seat which led to the kids running around the house with lots of excitement!  The event could have ended here and they would have been happy.

Our feast included spaghetti, salad, corn on the cob, garlic bread, and fruit.

As an introduction to the motto we had some flowers and talked about how we can help each other grow so that we can all become better.  Then the kids opened their letters and we read them.  Then we talked about each part of our motto-what it means and how we can accomplish it.  A summary of our motto taken from D&C 82:19:

1.  Help Build Zion-Make our home a place where we all feel happy and loved and where Jesus can be.  

2.  Seek the interest of others-This is where we help each other grow.  Do and say nice things to each other.  We incorporated the warm, fuzzy jar spoken of by President Monson  here as seen in the picture below.
3.  Do all things with an eye single to the glory of God-act like Jesus would.
We each signed the motto, committing to do our best to live that way.  Then David gave a blessing to each of us.  

We framed our signed motto and hung it on the wall where we would see it often.

Caleb chowing down on 'blessing donuts.'

I think the night was a success and met our objectives: it was fun as well as physically and spiritually nourishing.  I am excited to do this with our family each year and I think it will be a memory that our kids will look back and remember with fondness.  I realized that starting new traditions does not have to be difficult, really we took things that we have done in the past and added to it to make it unique to our family.  Caleb really loved the whole night and any other time we do our regular traditions.  

 I liked this quote from an article I read and it had some good tips for starting traditions.  "Family traditions are like spiritual and emotional cement in the foundation of a happy home. They create fond memories, and these memories bond us together as nothing else can." http://www.lds.org/ensign/1986/03/traditions-worth-keeping