Christmas is coming soon. Our family loves to put up a Christmas tree.  My wife pulls out the boxes of ornaments. We buy an ornament each year for the family and one for each of or children. When we buy an ornament for each of our children, we’re assuring that the tradition is carried on in their families. They’ll already have at least a dozen ornaments with at least a dozen stories of fun Christmas’.

I struggle to put the tree up straight. Christmas music is playing. We always have Oreo cookies and milk and take goofy pictures with teeth filled with Oreo cookies & milk mustaches.  After hanging the lights on the tree, each child looks for the best place to hang their special ornaments.  Then the family ornaments get hung. The lights are turned on and we step back to admire our tree! To others visiting our home, it can appear a mess.  There are decoupage pictures our children made when they were in 1^st grade, paper candy canes, reindeer made from toothpicks along with painted bells, Bolivian dancers, etc.  But it is our Christmas tradition.  Every day when our children come home from school, one of them will plug the lights in, stand back, look at the tree and sigh a happy, secure sigh. That’s a family builder.

I look forward to walks around Lagua Alalay every Sunday afternoon with my wife. I can hardly wait for my Saturday evening date with my bride. Our children know that the first day of a new school year, they will have to pose for a picture as they climb onto the bus that takes them to school. For our family, Sunday morning is for church. I’ve been honored to be invited to a Bolivian family that gets the entire nuclear family together for a Sunday noon meal and afternoon with family – more food than can be eaten, futbal games, talking with grandparents of the good old days, talking about business and politics. Those are family builders.

Traditions or customs build security. King Solomon wrote in Proverbs 22:6, “Train children in the way they should go, and when they are old they will not turn from it.” Happy memories breed happy moments.  Each of us has mistakes in our past that bring with them tears and regret. Our children will too. How many positive memories are we building that will counter our hurts? How many fun and positive traditions do we have that cause us to look away from our hurts and anticipate the love that family traditions bring?

None of us are perfect as individuals – nor are our marriages perfect.  As we work together to maintain our love and a strong marriage, our homes will be a good environment for growing and happy children.