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Our traditions and culture are important and define who we are and where we came from. No one will ever protect your culture, traditions, and family for you. If you want yours to survive you must be it's greatest champion. YOU must be the hero of your family's line.

My family is a bunch of home brewers going back to prohibition with some of the branches. Every Christmas the entire family always brings or sends each other a cider, mead, beer or wine. They all get passed around and handed out and any new comers are gifted a all in one home brewing kit for the next year.

Political, religious, ideological, and personal grievances all get shelved when its time to hand out the sauce and its a unifying event that keeps us together as a community and provides a sense of membership for those that join our family through marriage, friendship, or otherwise.

Its a valuable tool and the fun, comradery, and competition it fosters ensures that extended family stay involved and invested even when they can not be with us. Equally it promotes membership in our common/collective culture, beliefs, and our morality as a family.

I have other tradition that I promote and I add new ones all the time but it got me thinking; what are your traditions, how do you foster family, community, and philia in your life?

Merry Christmas

Our traditions and culture are important and define who we are and where we came from. No one will ever protect your culture, traditions, and family for you. If you want yours to survive you must be it's greatest champion. YOU must be the hero of your family's line. My family is a bunch of home brewers going back to prohibition with some of the branches. Every Christmas the entire family always brings or sends each other a cider, mead, beer or wine. They all get passed around and handed out and any new comers are gifted a all in one home brewing kit for the next year. Political, religious, ideological, and personal grievances all get shelved when its time to hand out the sauce and its a unifying event that keeps us together as a community and provides a sense of membership for those that join our family through marriage, friendship, or otherwise. Its a valuable tool and the fun, comradery, and competition it fosters ensures that extended family stay involved and invested even when they can not be with us. Equally it promotes membership in our common/collective culture, beliefs, and our morality as a family. I have other tradition that I promote and I add new ones all the time but it got me thinking; what are your traditions, how do you foster family, community, and philia in your life? Merry Christmas

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When I was a boy going for a long drive just to look at Christmas lights. We would always try to find the best decorations. Something about being warm in the car looking out at the dismal cold still gets my hanks a hankerin

[–] • 1 pt

That's an awesome one. Time with family together sharing in the experience.

I hope you keep it going!

[–] • 2 pts

My extended family used to play a huge ball hockey game on both Thanksgiving and Christmas. Some of us were good enough to play ice hockey at the collegiate level so it ran in the family. That's fallen apart as they've all diverged further and further left and my immediate family has been left behind.

Now we shoot trap and play bingo for hardware store prizes and wool socks. Someday I'll have enough boys to put together a hockey game again.

[–] • 1 pt

I am sorry you have lost that tradition, it sounds like an awesome time and memories with your family.

Maybe this year bring it up and see if you can instigate a quick game for old time sake... You have to be the patriarch. Make it happen.

[–] • 1 pt

Oh I still play with my dad and brother. My kids are getting there. We moved away from the extended family years ago and I decided to stop pretending we had anything in common when I assumed the family mantle from my dad.

[–] • 0 pt

Be the Patriarch your family... every family needs.

You must build a table and invite them all to sit at it.

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Me and my Friend used to put on skates and beat the shit out of each other. I don’t know if that qualifies as hockey

[–] • 1 pt

Christmas is fake and gay, based on pagan lore. Jan 2 is the best day of the year...then the 'holidays' bullshit is FINALLY over.

[–] • 1 pt

Go get a book called Fossilized Customs by Lew White.

Just from that one comment I know you will enjoy that book.

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But will I enjoy it as much as 'Mein Kampf'??

[–] • 1 pt

As a kid, extended family would always come up for thanksgiving from out of state to stay several days. We would do the traditional "mud bowl" in the school football field right behind the house that turned into deep soft mud every fall. Always looked forward to it. Now everybody grown up and living far apart, and becoming very different people, we have no more holiday tradition. I live near my parents, but thats it. Minimal contact with my siblings, zero with extended family. Kind of a bummer. I usually swing by my parents house christmas eve, just because i know it makes my mom happy to have at least 1 kid around. I generally just go hunting thanksgiving and christmas. Holidays have become pretty meaningless to me with the family so split up and divided.

[–] • 0 pt

I believe this solitude and division you speak of is by design. They are killing off our history and our spirit.

The intent of this post is to find and share our traditions, hopefully you can find inspiration to begin a new tradition that can bring you and your family closer together.

This year, make it your duty to reach out and be the Patriarch your family is lacking right now.

[–] • 1 pt

My siblings are devout branch covidians living in california for one thing. Also my sister is dirt poor from an ongoing string of poor life decisions and id have to pay to fly her and her herd of kids up. Also neither can afford to take time off work. So the sibling thing is a dead end. If i cant even get the immediate family together, kinda removes any motivation to reach out to extended family. It wouldnt be the same.

[–] • 0 pt

I am sorry to hear it.

Maybe reach out to community and friends closer to home geographically and share in community tradition with them. I hope you can find a way to promote you and yourn.

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Do you ever mention to your covidian family members that theres a lot of places completely open in this country and nobody is dying. Maybe tell them to turn off the tv and actually go outside. The world is fine. The news isn’t.

[–] • 1 pt

one of my traditions is saying Happy Christmas to each other. I went out for a meal with ten others at the end when we all said our good byes, only two of us said Happy Christmas. The woke rest refrained from saying this, I can only assume as not to upset the newly arrived folk from other lands. They said Happy Holiday instead. I decided not to point out this saying can be shortened to HH which means Heil Hitler as i did not think it was in the spirit of Christmas, and would let them carry on saying it.

[–] • 0 pt

You should tell them immediately that their innocent non-secular greeting are actually a dog whistle for those dastardly white supremacists!

[–] • 1 pt

Not an xtian, so just another day for me. On the other hand, this is the only time when I can for sure find a goose in the supermarket. This year goose came through in Thanksgiving, but that was like the first time in ten years....usually only xmas season. Anyway splurging for an overpriced goose is my 'tradition'!

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I recently figured this out but the geese at the park are free. You can just pick one up and take it home.

[–] • 1 pt

Seafood Christmas Eve

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Feast of the Seven Sisters.... you must be a fucking dego wop!

;)

[–] • 1 pt

I had never heard of that, I never knew the origins, it was just something we did growing up!

[–] • 0 pt

I got so sick of seafood growing up. Fish and crab and shrimp and oysters and lalalala. All I like now is crab. I used to like shark fishing. When I was a kid and we would go fishing I wouldn’t fish I would mostly wait for my parents to catch a fish we would use for the crab traps. I used to like setting them on the cutting board and stabbing them in the head. I would always try to spot exactly when the life left their eyes

[–] • 0 pt

I still love crab and lobster, I just don't like to fight for my food any more.

[–] • 1 pt

Open gifts, go to mass.

[–] • 0 pt

Awesome tradition! My family too.

Those mornings are always important memories to instill in children and will help them when they are older. With smaller children I have found that getting to open a mountain of small cheap presents is more memorable than just a few big/expensive ones.

[–] • 1 pt

Open gifts on Christmas eve and watch Christmas Vacation.

[–] • 1 pt

Oyster stew every Christmas Eve.

[–] • 0 pt

Cream or wine base?

[–] • 1 pt

In my opinion, which is obviously correct, it should be nothing but Oysters, cream, butter, salt, pepper, and a few dashes of Worchestshire sauce