I believe that traditions are one of the main differences and uniqueness of each family.

Coming from different nations and cultural backgrounds, my husband and I brought a different set of traditions and made a blend.

For context, my husband is Irish and I hail from Belarus, but moved abroad with my family when I was 13 year old.

One of the traditions that we have is around Christmas and New Year. Both Santa and Grandfather Frost come to our house and bring gifts. Santa on 25th of December and Grandfather Frost on the night of 31st of December. Santa brings what kids ask for: one big present, one small and a surprise. Grandfather Frost brings what they need or have been wanting for a while but didn’t ask Santa for.

For Christmas dinner on 25th of December we typically have foods that all Irish families would on that day, except we do not like turkey so sometimes we change that for something else. We typically meet and exchange gifts with my hubby’s family on 24th and have small bites for that day.

For New Year’s celebrations, we have traditional table that I would have had as a child: duck, meat salad, herring under beetroot, marinated mushrooms, etc. My family typically would travel to celebrate New Year together, so each family gets to see each other. My kids love both of those celebrations and look forward to each.

Another family tradition that we have is that we never say no to our kids if they want to buy a book to read. My eldest son loves reading and we encourage it. I grew up always having books to read and really think that my son’s great progress in school is due to his love for books.

My youngest is 6 years old and is still learning to read well, but I make sure to always read to him at night time and encourage him to read one page him and then one page me. It encourages him and doesn’t seem so daunting.

Another tradition that I and my husband have is we always bring our kids with us on holidays. We don’t leave them with grandparents when we go as we believe that values, traditions and cultural awareness are created in childhood. We chose to have kids and are raising them having a wide understanding of world outside of Ireland.

What are your traditions ?