Many years ago when our oldest children were small, as most children do, they were snooping under the Christmas tree and shaking gifts. One year, this became an unmanageable annoyance for me and thus the tradition of big boxes was born. I don’t really remember where the idea came from, I believe I read it somewhere or saw it on a TV show.
And so, a tradition was born. For each of our children, all of their gifts are wrapped and placed in a big box (like a medium-sized moving box), that box is then wrapped with a big bow. No names are put on the boxes (and some years that have been problematic as I didn’t remember correctly which box belonged to which child causing the wrong child to unwrap the big box). The big boxes are the last thing unwrapped on Christmas morning resulting in the living room overflowing with big boxes, ribbon and wrapping paper. In our family, we take turns opening gifts, giving special consideration to each gift and the giver. It is such a special time with family and continues to be even more so as they are adults and the interaction between them is priceless. As the children have gotten older, married and moved out of the house, I thought the big boxes would be shelved until the grandchildren came, but that idea was met with great resistance. I did declare that when the first grandchild comes along, those parents would have one box between the 2 of them! Traditions for tradition’s sake? Or are we purposefully establishing traditions with greater meaning and substance behind them? Tradition is defined as a belief or custom handed down from generation to generation. It is also defined as “teaching”. In 2 Thessalonians, Paul is reminding us to stand firm.
15 So then, brothers, stand firm and hold to the traditions that you were taught by us, either by our spoken word or by our letter. The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. (2016). (2 Th 2:15). Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles.
Not only do we need to establish family traditions, but more importantly we need to teach our children and grandchildren how to stand firm in the faith, hold onto the teaching from the Word of God and live lives rooted in the Gospel. Family traditions can be fun, something to anticipate, a sacred time or activity, but also can be valuable life lessons rooted in your belief system. As I have pondered the tradition of the Big Boxes, which was started to solve a problem one year, has now become much more, something that can be counted on, solid and steady. Sometimes, the lessons we need to impart are just, that, no matter what, we will be here, solid and steady and ALWAYS!
