How to Add Meaning to Your Holiday Traditions

Making space to celebrate holiday traditions goes beyond just checking off a list for a Christmas tree or menorah, and gathering with friends. An insightful article from Psychology Today, “Why Holiday Traditions May Matter More than Ever,” explores the idea that traditions are crucial to our well-being. Traditions offer an important organising and centering experience.

Slow down this holiday season. You can add meaning to your holiday traditions this year and create memories to last a lifetime. Here’s how to get started.

Turn Your Holiday Upside Down

Christmas trees with all of the trimmings have always been a tradition during the holidays. According to Pew Research, 79 percent of Americans said they plan to put up a Christmas tree. You can hold onto that Christmas tree tradition, but turn it upside down this year. Upside down Christmas trees have become a hot fad in the marketplace, but aren’t a new phenomenon. The Spruce explains that hanging fir trees upside down dates back to the Middle Ages and was done to represent the Holy Trinity. Today it’s become more an interesting way to celebrate Christmas — refreshing the idea of a traditional tree.

Help Others

Extending a hand to others is a satisfying, simple and effective way to find and keep your happiness. Making others a priority during the holidays shifts the focus. Instead of worrying about what you’ll be doing or parties you’ll attend, help serve food to the homeless, carol in a nursing home or visit shut-ins with a hot meal. You can also turn helping others into a new resolution that carries with you throughout the year.

Celebrate Your Love for Others

Holidays have a way of reminding us who is important in our lives — from friends and family to helpful co-workers you’ve built relationships with. Take some time during the holidays to celebrate your love for others this year. Try sending someone a heartfelt email reminding them how much they mean to you. Launch a video chat with a relative you haven’t seen in awhile, hand write a note to a friend or show up with coffee at someone’s workplace to show how much you care. They’ll likely remember your thoughtful gesture every holiday and maybe inspire a new tradition of their own.

Give Highly Personal Gifts

There’s something unbelievably satisfying about giving highly personal and unique gifts to your loved ones. Give yourself a challenge and put yourself on a budget for the gift-giving season. Sticking to a budget can help eliminate the temptation to just go and pick out anything. Focus on a personal gift like a photo collage, memory book, surprise trip to a beautiful hike, or flea market find that puts all of the focus on your loved ones instead of your wallet.

Start a New Tradition

There’s no one rule that says you have to carry on old holiday traditions that don’t mean much to you. Instead, start your own holiday traditions like surprising a loved one, mastering a new dish to serve to your friends, dare yourself to get out of your comfort zone like zip lining with friends, or treating yourself to an indulgence like a massage. The idea is to take control over your holidays and create the meaning you’re looking for.

*This is a collaborative post.