We don't have many traditions yet, mainly because we're still a 'new' family and haven't had much chance to establish proper traditions, but partly because DH is the most unsentimental person I've ever met and doesn't 'believe' in making a big deal of things like holidays, anniversaries, birthdays, etc.
One tradition that I am adamant about is a huge spread and hot roast lunch for Christmas Day. As a child, Christmas was mainly spent at my dad's parents' house for the holidays, and nanna is quite traditional so Christmas Day always involved huge breakfast of bacon and eggs (and the rest) and opening presents, then hot roast meat, cold ham and seafood, salads and roast vegies, and everything else for lunch, and then dinner was just 'go stick your head in the fridge, plenty of leftovers!'
Nanna has since moved another four hours further away from us though to be closer to my aunt and her kids (the youngest was born when I was 13 so they're still little and she likes spending lots of time with them), so for the last few years Christmas at my parents' has been an exercise in disappointment for me, anyway - Mum just bakes some of those frozen calamari and fish fillets, buys some fresh prawns and makes a salad, then they sit in front of the TV and don't speak unless spoken to (she complains that it's just too hot to bother, which is true, but come on, it's CHRISTMAS!!).
So now that DH's parents aren't around anymore, and we don't have to split the day between two houses, I have taken it upon myself to be Christmas Fairy and insist on doing the big roast with all the trimmings. It forces everyone to sit at the table and celebrate rather than treat it like any other day, but with presents.
Birthdays are another one I like making a big deal over - DH absolutely hates even the barest acknowledgment of his (although he is not at all averse to accepting gifts!), but I still insist on baking him his favourite cake (I like making from scratch but he likes those packet ones, so I make him one and then add a twist like cutting it in half and spreading extra icing or whipped cream on the bottom layer before sandwiching it all together) and decorating it for him. For DD's first birthday we had a party at the Marina with our families there, and I would love to continue doing that - I always had parties as a kid and thoroughly enjoyed it (although I never liked fairy bread and ****tail franks, even back then!), so I would like to continue that with the kids.
We don't do much for my birthday, as DH and I don't drink and he doesn't bake, so we usually go to my parents' for dinner and they do the cake thing for me
We have two anniversaries - one is the day we officially became a couple, and our wedding anniversary, so we 'celebrate' both. On our 'dating' anniversary, in October, we usually buy each other small gifts and wish each other a happy anniversary, and on our wedding anniversary I put on my wedding dress and we go out to dinner (the one and only day of the year he ever takes me out for dinner, but hey, it's a novelty that way!).
As far as day-to-day traditions go, the only one I really stick to is my Sunday tradition - I go to the corner store and get the three Sunday papers (Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne) and then spend the rest of the day sifting through them at my leisure, pausing for housework, playing with DD and doing other things that need attention. It literally takes me all day to get through them because of the stop-start nature, but I enjoy it.
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