Holidays and Special Occasions:
food, family and friends
Just as daily meals bring our immediate family together for good food and good times, holidays call for, and reward us with, more. We make a greater effort to get together, pulling out old recipes, sliding another leaf in the table. These celebrations stop time for a moment, as the seasons and years slide by.
Traditions and rituals link us with our extended families, our ethnic groups, our religions, and our heritage. They help us remember what is important. Even if the event doesn’t go perfectly (and which one ever does?), we come away with a deeper sense of where we come from, a feeling of being part of a whole.
To get the most out of holiday get-togethers:
- Before you go, show your kids photos of the people who will be there; explain their relation, and share some memories.
- Which traditions are worth continuing or bringing back? What can you do without?
- Be realistic about your expectations.
- Build in some down-time.
- Try to appreciate what is, instead of fretting about what is not.
- Express your appreciation to others.
- Chip in; there’s no shortage of things to do.
- Honor your shared past while connecting in the present.
- Bring along your sense of humor and sense of proportion.
The following statistics are a result of a new survey conducted by Kelton Research on behalf of The J.M. Smucker Company about holiday traditions:
- Contrary to conventional wisdom, family traditions are important to young Americans. Nearly three out of four (73%) Americans aged 18-44 say that as they get older, holiday meals become more important to them, compared to less than half (49%) of those 45 and older.
- Nearly seven in ten (68%) of all Americans say that it's getting harder and harder to reinforce family mealtime traditions.
- When asked which of the traditions are most important to keep, Americans would like to continue having large meals (60%) and large family gatherings (53%).
- Though the meal is often the focal point of holiday gatherings, only a quarter (25%) of Americans actually knows how to make all of their family's traditional dishes.
View easy "how-to" family favorite recipe videos:
Mealtimes Matter Video
from Miriam Weinstein
About Miriam
Miriam Weinstein is an award-winning documentary filmmaker. As a journalist, she has won several awards from the New England Press Association. Her work has appeared in Boston Magazine, the Boston Globe magazine, Hope, and ParentSource. A former staff member for North Shore Weeklies and freelancer for Essex County Newspapers, she writes restaurant reviews and food columns as well as features on a wide variety of subjects. She lives in Gloucester, Massachusetts, with her husband and has two grown children.
The Surprising Power of Family Meals
In her book, The Surprising Power of Family Meals, Miriam Weinstein shows how this basic human institution helps nourish and strengthen our families today. You can buy this book from our friends at Smucker's® Online Store.
