Mothers, Daughters, and Tradition: Heart-warming holiday stories

December 9, 2009 by Elizabeth Donovan, M. A.
Filed under THINK PINK! Get Inspired.

Mother-daughter-holiday

The holiday season is upon us and perhaps there is no better time than to reflect on the passage of time by sharing holiday traditions with our loved ones. Family traditions are a gift that many parents give each year, yet some never fully realize the magnitude of their worth. Holiday traditions are a unique way of reflecting on our own lives as well as sharing it with others.

As our daughters become women, mother-daughter traditions that are passed down from one generation to the next are what often keep us grounded and unified. Mothers and daughters come to rely on these rituals as part of showing their love for one another and teaching each generation about giving, caring, and respecting each other. The holidays are a wonderful time for moms to pass down family traditions or create new memories with their daughters.

Establishing traditions when girls are young often holds significant meaning to both mothers and daughters as they grow older. As girls mature into teenagers, special bonding time often becomes few and far between as your daughter begins to become independent and prefers to spend time with her peer group. Creating special holiday traditions often helps mothers and daughters reconnect and share special moments throughout the years.

Mothers and daughters around the country have many unique and heart-warming ways of passing on family traditions or finding new ways to create holiday memories. These mother-daughter traditions will inspire you and serve to remind us what the holidays are really all about.

Holiday Tea:

“My sisters and their daughters have a holiday tradition of going to high tea all together at a nearby hotel or tea room two days before Christmas Eve. When they were younger they would bring their respective favorite doll or teddy bear. It’s a chance for both the cousins to catch up, as well as the moms/sisters.” – Siobhan M. Lyons, San Francisco, CA

Learn a New Recipe and Make it Together:

“We attend a holiday meal cooking class at a local vineyard, then each of us volunteers to make one of the new dishes learned that night for our Christmas Eve dinner. It started out as a fun bonding experience for just my mother, my sister and me, but then my aunt joined us, followed by my sister’s daughters. It’s a tradition that ends up benefitting the men in the family as well. They love it, because it involves more delicious feasts.” – Lisa Johnson Mandell, Los Angeles, CA

Celebrate your heritage:

“My mother taught me the ropes of how how to create, make, bake home-made Italian and danish cookies when I was 4 years old. As she and I grew older, we kept up the annual tradition by reading recipes over the phone and scoring our cookies’ tastes, together. The sweetest memory was in her twilight years, when Alzheimer’s started to take her memories away. She remembered us baking the holiday treats together, could not remember the recipes. So the tables turned, with me teaching my 80+ year old mother, the old ropes, she began teaching me so many years before.” – Nancy Hansen Zuschlag, Denver, CO

Bake for a cause:

“During the holiday season, my mother and I would always make enough chocolate chip walnut cookies to feed a small army! We would then go to my local mall and get 2 Salvation Army Angels from the mall Christmas tree and leave some fresh baked cookies with the volunteers. We would shop for our angels, go home wrap the presents and the next day drop everything off. We’ve continued this tradition for the past 20 years – the only thing that will change this year is the cookies! I am still trying to make a healthy version of the chocolate chip walnut cookie.” – The Biggest Loser Season 7 finalist, Tara Costa.

Send long-distance stocking stuffers:

“My daughter and I have lived in different states (me in IN and she in AR) for many years. Even though she is 39 years old, we continue to send each other filled Christmas Stockings every year with our gifts. It’s just one way of keeping our mother/daughter relationship strong and intact even though we can’t be together very often. And it brings out the “kid” in both of us. We both look forward to the surprises that arrive in the stockings.” – Nita Wright, Kokomo, IN

Wrap it up with a contest:

“My mother, sister and I have a “creative gift wrapping contest each year” and the rest of the family “silently” votes for their favorite gift wrap. The winner gets to keep a family favorite bracelet for a year until the next Christmas.” – Heather Patterson, Little Rock, AR

Create unique holiday china:

“My three daughters and I have been painting our own Christmas china for many years since they were little girls. We go to one of those “paint your own” pottery places – the border is the same on each dish, but the girls create their own designs in the middle. They sign their date and ages each year. They are my most treasured things I own. As they’ve grown, so has their artistic ability, but each dish is a wonderful memory.” -Janet Ryan, St Louis, MO

Make your own gifts:

“The year that I turned 16, my mom was having a bit of financial trouble. Never one to be defeated, she set out to figure out a way to make sure that I still had the best Christmas a family could experience. She suggested that we make all of our gifts. We started out by taking a free pottery class in early December. We went back every week to work on gifts for our family. The finished product was such a hit that even today we still get requests for handmade gifts. To this day, my most prized possession is a gift that my mom made for me that year.” – Evelyne Del Billingslea, Greenville, NC

Cut down your own tree:

“My mother and I lived alone, just the two of us from the time I was 5 years old, until I moved out at 18. We lived in Northern California out in the country where it always rained on the holidays. The first year we went to get a Christmas tree it started pouring rain as we were sawing down our own tree. We loved being independent and cutting our own tree, and always went to the same farm where they served us hot cider afterwards. To this day we wait until it’s a rainy afternoon to go out and get the tree, and although I am no longer living at home we still make it our special tradition, just the two of us.” – Bailey Cuzner, Oakhurst, CA

Donate your time to charity:

“Every Christmas for the past several years my daughter and I have volunteered to ring the bell for the Salvation Army. Even though my daughter is grown now, we still enjoy the time spent together and giving something back to our community. This year my four year old granddaughter will join us in our Christmas tradition. Young children love helping others and this is a fun way to teach my granddaughter about helping those who are less fortunate.” – Teresa Bell Kindred, Summer Shade, KY

Celebrate a favorite song:

“[My daughter] knows that I love the holiday tunes on the radio and especially the Carpenter’s (singing group) holiday tunes. When she or I hear one on the radio, we call each other on the cell phone or text each other “carpenters”. Needless to say we both enjoy a real giggle!” – Ellen Delap, Kingwood, TX

The most memorable and enjoyable traditions are the ones you and your daughter create together. So remember, whether it’s baking Christmas cookies or volunteering your time during the holiday season in a soup kitchen, mothers and daughters can find unique ways to cherish, reconnect, and renew their relationship year after year.