Tradition in my family runs deep and they're some of my greatest memories growing up. The stories of all our family get together's continue to live on even after we've lost some very special people. September 1st means dove hunting and our traditional dove dinner with a recipe that has passed on from generation to generation. Since we just celebrated this occasion, I began reflecting on some other family traditions that I cherish most. With our fast paced lives and divorced families, family traditions can get lost. Society seems to have forgotten that the integrity of the family creates strength and bonding to succeed in life. Call me old-fashioned, but I can't imagine not celebrating with family. With all of this being said, here are my top 10 family traditions.
1. Chinese Christmas
Years ago my Uncle Jim and Aunt Carole would host what we called "Chinese Christmas" which was always the Saturday before Christmas. Keep in mind we're Italian and this is not the typical Chinese Christmas celebration. We get Chinese take-out! Even though my Uncle Jim is no longer with us, we continue to alternate years between our Bay area cousins and the Modesto cousins on hosting this long lasting tradition of getting our family and extended families together.
2. Dove Dinner
Dove season opened on September 1st and that means we had our traditional dove dinner. Growing up I can remember waking up before the sun rose, getting in the car and riding out to Zia's house. Zia would have donuts and hot chocolate ready for us when we arrived. Shortly thereafter, we would head out for the morning hunt. After reaching our limit ( hoping we would reach our limit as this was dinner!) we would go back to Zia's for lunch and a nap. Around 3 o'clock we would load up in the cars and head out for the evening hunt. After the last dove was plucked and cleaned, we enjoyed our fruits of the day. Thanks to Zia for all the years of watching her prep dinner, I'm fortunate to now have the opportunity to pass it on to our children.
3. Pismo Beach at Thanksgiving
This is a tradition I married into but now look forward to spending the weekend after Thanksgiving in Pismo. Not only do we get together with Anthony's family, but we camp out on the beach and enjoy the beautiful weather. This year the kids get to spend their first weekend in Pismo and I can't wait to see Giada's huge smile on her face while riding a quad.
4. Candle Lighting on Christmas Day
My grandparents started a tradition of lighting a candle for every person we have lost in our family and saying a little something about them before Christmas dinner. As our family has grown, candles have been added to the table but it's just a reminder of how important it is to keep the ones that we've lost in our prayers and thoughts through our daily lives.
5. Christmas Caroling
I love all things about the Christmas season but I especially look forward to Christmas caroling at Zia and Uncle Bill's house. The carolers started with their immediate family and have grown to over 50 people. It's fun to see all the generations and the tradition the carolers have kept over the years.
6. Enchiladas on Christmas Eve.
Coming from an Italian family, enchiladas may seem like an odd meal for Christmas Eve… Not for us! My grandpa Pecchenino (great grandpa) started this tradition and we've carried it on ever since. It started with my Noni helping grandpa, then Noni to Zia then my Dad started helping Zia to my mom. Though I'm not with my family on Christmas Eve my family has continued making Grandpa's enchiladas.
7. Horse Race at Oakdale Country Club.
This is a new tradition my dad and I started doing together five years ago at Oakdale Country Club Friday Night Lights annual horse race. When the tournament started five years ago I was the only girl in the horse race; since then, several more ladies have joined the competition. I have participated in this horse race while pregnant with both kids and I believe those were the times we played the best. It looks like I may have to continue to have children as we were not as successful this past Friday. Part of the fun this year was watching Giada run around on the golf course which brought back memories of me growing up out there.
8. Opening Stockings Christmas Morning
I may be turning the big 3-0 this year but that doesn't mean I can't open stockings on Christmas morning. Back when it was just Giano, Giovanna and myself, Santa would wrap each individual gift in our stocking and we would start with the oldest to the youngest and alternate opening gifts. This would take forever but we couldn't imagine doing it any other way. Once we finished with our stockings, Mom and Dad would have to do the exact same thing. Well...there's not just the five of us anymore and we're still doing the same thing. Needless to say, opening Christmas stockings in the morning is a process, but the tradition will continue. Now, we get to enjoy it with Anthony's famous bloody Mary's and Mom has her Mimosa.
9. Dinner with Noni and Nono
Every Sunday my Noni and Nono would come over for dinner. It didn't matter what was going on that day, we knew between five and six o'clock we would pick them up at their house and bring them over for dinner. My mom would have a drink ready for Nono and Noni's water would be sitting next to her chair. Usually by the end of the dinner, Nono would make some smart remark that Noni would laugh so hard she'd starting crying. Every once in awhile, Noni would crack herself up(as well as us) and start laughing so hard that the rest of couldn't help ourselves. After Nono passed away a couple years ago, Noni continued the tradition of coming over for Sunday dinner. Noni would always show up in her Sunday best and us in our casual low keyed attire. Now that we've lost the both of them those memories and laughs we had at the dinner table are priceless.
10. Lake Tahoe
I don't think there's a summer I've missed going to Lake Tahoe. This tradition started when I wasn't even born and my dad's family would go up together when they were kids. We've been fortunate that my Zia has let us stay at her condo (and Uncle Bill's) for as long as I can remember. Some of my best memories are days on the beach just playing in the sand and riding the waves on the boogie board and in evening playing cards and going down to the dock with blankets to watch the stars. When we were teenagers we got to bring a friend with us for the week. Good memories. As we got older, the memories of our evenings on the beach having appetizers and drinks and watching the sunset. As we've all grown up and started our own families it's harder to get everyone to Tahoe at the same time, but we've continued to try to go a few days every summer. This year Giada enjoyed all the things I did when I was younger. Can't wait till next year to see both Giada and Jocko on the beach.
Thank you to all of my family that started these traditions. You can count on the next generation to carry them on to our families and also create a few of our own.
