When do traditions start?

I will admit, there are very few traditions that I actually remember from childhood.

I remember my dad reading 'Twas the Night Before Christmas every Christmas Eve after my parents' divorce.

I remember my mom always made sure I got separate gifts on 2/14 - birthday gifts and a Valentine's Day gift.

I remember my grandmother making me wear sponge rollers and sitting under an old hair dryer and tying my pigtails up with this super wide yarn/ribbon.

I remember someone used to give me porcelain figurines for each of my birthdays. They were pastel-colored dolls with gold numbers on them for my age.

I remember a lot of Halloweens where my cousin and I had matching costumes.

And to this day... we all still go see Drifty the Snowman at the Swift Creek Mill Playhouse every year before Christmas.

But one thing I don't know is...

when did those traditions start? 

And when do our family traditions begin?

How do you decide what becomes a tradition?  Is it something you can even really decide upon or do they just evolve on their own? I know Lainey will not remember this first Christmas, but how much do I do and how far do you take these traditions?

I have a slight obsession with books, as some of you may know from earlier posts.  I especially love old books - ones that smell like old leather or musty paper!  And, as you can imagine, Lainey does not need toys. Really. I mean we buy things all the time.  (I joke and call this my "you get a prize" parenting method.  Yes, I know, that is not parenting. But I also know that when you're crying at the doctor's office because you just 3 shots.... you will definitely get a prize!) 

All of that being said, I have decided to start a tradition of my own.  

Penguin Classics has been releasing some of the most gorgeous cloth-bound books in the last couple of years. So I am thinking it would be nice for every milestone - gift-worthy event, I will give Lainey a book. Hopefully it will be a cloth-bound Penguin/Puffin Classic book.  It started with her first copy of The Little Prince. I came across a gorgeous vintage copy of it that has the perfectly aged cloth binding.  Now, as silly as it may sound, I plan on stocking up on these classic novels and hoarding them away for the perfect days.

Traditions start whenever and wherever you want them to...

so let the traditions begin.

xoxo,
Linda