Family Traditions.  Hmm.  Haven't done a post in forever, but this strikes a cord.  I will start out with a simple memory.   Each Christmas season, as we took down the tree, I would have my husband cut off about 1-1 1/2 feet of the trunk of our Christmas tree.  We would store this with the bucket and the Christmas tree stand until the following Christmas.  Each year, on Christmas Eve, we would light our fire using the "yule log" that we had cut from the previous year's tree.  I don't know that it was as importatnt to anyone else in the family as it was to me, but I loved it.  I would then have the kids, more for my benefit than theirs, sit and listen to The Polar Express, just before bedtime.  They would of course make fun of me as I was reduced to tears at the end when the boy can no longer hear the bell.  I don't think that I have ever not heard the bell at Christmas.  One thing I am certain of is that even though my children may not have understood the significance of  our family traditions as I did, they were more than happy to go along with the events. I always hope that it's because they know how important it was, and still is, to come together as a family, no matter how you do it.  And I guess, when all is said and done, the love and importance is what makes a tradition.  I'm hoping that when they have their own children, their traditions will be just as important to them.