What traditions don't you follow?

The stores open on Thanksgiving thread got me thinking. I know a lot of people are big on traditions, but I am definitely not one of them. What "traditions" don't you/didn't you follow?

It will take me days to list all of them, so I'll see if I can come up with a short list for now.


Didn't get DW a diamond engagement ring
DW didn't wear a white wedding dress
FIL didn't give away DW
DC don't believe in Santa, Elf-on-a-Shelf, Tooth Fairy, or the Easter Bunny
Birthdays are celebrated over several days, not necessarily on actual date
Major holidays may or may not be celebrated on the actual date, too. Sometimes, the bigger Thanksgiving dinner is the day after, based on peoples' availability.
I hate when people say "Bless You" when I sneeze. I don't need to be protected from evil spirits entering my body. They wouldn't want to stay in there long anyway....
I'm not doing anything about my hair loss. No comb-overs, no drugs, no implants, etc.

Re: What traditions don't you follow?

Hmmmm....

I don't Christmas shop in stores- only online.
I would rather have a root canal then go near a store on Black Friday
I showed my DH my wedding dress before the wedding. Somehow we are still married.
I usually don't wear my engagment or wedding ring and neither does DH

I'm sure there are more...I have to think!

Message edited 11/18/2011 9:22:48 AM.

Re: What traditions don't you follow?

To the OP, Im curious as to why you didnt have your DC believe in santa, easter bunny etc... I get that its not reality, and year after year you have to tell little white lies to your child, but doesnt it take some of the magic out of it for them? And what about when they are in school? Do they tell other children that those things arent real I dont mean to start any "drama"... Just have not heard of this before and would like to know your reasoning behind it

Re: What traditions don't you follow?

I am HUGE on traditions.. i actually seek out new ones constantly!

BUT almost nothing about my relationship with my husband was traditional. He met my parents (at his own insistence) before we were a 'serious' couple. I didn't get married until after we had 2 children and owned our own home. And I didn't get an engagement ring at all because we just bought a house and didn't see the need. My kids were in our wedding and walked me down the aisle. I didn't get married in church and since my parents were both dead when I got married, I danced with my best friend's father (who also happened to be one of my dad's friends). I don't wear my wedding ring and Rob only wears his when we go out somewhere.

But outside of that we love to follow tradition and the kids love it too.

Re: What traditions don't you follow?

Re: What traditions don't you follow?

We follow a lot, but we also make our own.

I'd say the big one is that I didn't take DH's name when we got married. We combined our last names into one, and we both took the new last name.

Re: What traditions don't you follow?

Posted by MaZz

To the OP, Im curious as to why you didnt have your DC believe in santa, easter bunny etc... I get that its not reality, and year after year you have to tell little white lies to your child, but doesnt it take some of the magic out of it for them? And what about when they are in school? Do they tell other children that those things arent real I dont mean to start any "drama"... Just have not heard of this before and would like to know your reasoning behind it

Re: What traditions don't you follow?

Posted by GoldenRod

Posted by MaZz

To the OP, Im curious as to why you didnt have your DC believe in santa, easter bunny etc... I get that its not reality, and year after year you have to tell little white lies to your child, but doesnt it take some of the magic out of it for them? And what about when they are in school? Do they tell other children that those things arent real I dont mean to start any "drama"... Just have not heard of this before and would like to know your reasoning behind it

Lots of kids don't believe in Santa. It's one are of white lies that I don't want to continue. I know first-hand that when my sibs and I found out, it really hurt to find out that my mom was lying about something like that.
Santa is also a scary concept. A large, fat man spies on you while you're sleeping all year long, then comes into your house in the middle of the, also while you're sleeping, to put stuff in the house? Too creepy for me. Why is it OK for this man to spy on you, but not other men? If someone breaks into your house wearing a red suit, that's good. If he has black on, it's bad.

DS is in 3rd grade, and hasn't told anybody. We're very open with him about various religions and beliefs, and we tell him that a lot of kids do believe, and it's not his place to try and convince anyone otherwise.

They understand the concept of Santa (he's everywhere, so it's hard to completely ignore him), but for us, he just symbolizes the idea of Christmas. He's in the same category as Mickey Mouse or SpongeBob. They're not real, but you can still talk about them, watch them on TV, or caricatures of them in stores, etc.

Re: What traditions don't you follow?

Posted by GoldenRod

Posted by MaZz

To the OP, Im curious as to why you didnt have your DC believe in santa, easter bunny etc... I get that its not reality, and year after year you have to tell little white lies to your child, but doesnt it take some of the magic out of it for them? And what about when they are in school? Do they tell other children that those things arent real I dont mean to start any "drama"... Just have not heard of this before and would like to know your reasoning behind it

Lots of kids don't believe in Santa. It's one are of white lies that I don't want to continue. I know first-hand that when my sibs and I found out, it really hurt to find out that my mom was lying about something like that.
Santa is also a scary concept. A large, fat man spies on you while you're sleeping all year long, then comes into your house in the middle of the, also while you're sleeping, to put stuff in the house? Too creepy for me. Why is it OK for this man to spy on you, but not other men? If someone breaks into your house wearing a red suit, that's good. If he has black on, it's bad.

DS is in 3rd grade, and hasn't told anybody. We're very open with him about various religions and beliefs, and we tell him that a lot of kids do believe, and it's not his place to try and convince anyone otherwise.

They understand the concept of Santa (he's everywhere, so it's hard to completely ignore him), but for us, he just symbolizes the idea of Christmas. He's in the same category as Mickey Mouse or SpongeBob. They're not real, but you can still talk about them, watch them on TV, or caricatures of them in stores, etc.

Re: What traditions don't you follow?

My DH never actually proposed to me.

We also skipped a lot of wedding traditions, like announcing the bridal party & tossing the bouquet & parent dances.

We don't exchange anniversary presents--and sometimes we don't do birthday presents either.

I don't have kids (well, I guess tha tin itself is non traditional) but if I did, I don't think I would encourage them to believe in Santa. Or Disney.

Re: What traditions don't you follow?

This thread made me realize that I follow all traditions...everything about my wedding was traditional. I follow most if not all holiday traditions. I like it that way though it is not something I feel I HAVE to do.

Re: What traditions don't you follow?

I follow most traditions from my childhood, which was similar to DH's. We've combined them (fish on the Eves, Santa, Easer Bunny, Tooth Fairy, Thanksgiving, proposal, wedding was traditional but I had a non-denominational reading (from the Velveteen Rabbit).)

For non-traditional stuff, I've made up a lot of my own things that I suspect my children will carry on. The Leprechaun visits, No Manners Day, randomly celebrate my kid day - complete with cake. Birthdays are celebrated on the day with possible additional celebrations depending on weekend availabilty.

To me a tradition is belief or practice passed down from previous generations. I don't see Elf on a Shelf, getting implants, etc as a tradition.

Re: What traditions don't you follow?

Umm. I guess I've very traditional. I really like traditions and starting new ones. In our family we chop down our own Christmas trees out east the weekend after Thanksgiving.

My wedding was faitly traditional, but different because it was interfaith. I did not wear a blusher. I said "I'm too pretty to cover up my face" LOL

Re: What traditions don't you follow?

Posted by MaZz

To the OP, Im curious as to why you didnt have your DC believe in santa, easter bunny etc... I get that its not reality, and year after year you have to tell little white lies to your child, but doesnt it take some of the magic out of it for them? And what about when they are in school? Do they tell other children that those things arent real I dont mean to start any "drama"... Just have not heard of this before and would like to know your reasoning behind it

Re: What traditions don't you follow?

Re: What traditions don't you follow?

Posted by GoldenRod

Posted by MaZz

To the OP, Im curious as to why you didnt have your DC believe in santa, easter bunny etc... I get that its not reality, and year after year you have to tell little white lies to your child, but doesnt it take some of the magic out of it for them? And what about when they are in school? Do they tell other children that those things arent real I dont mean to start any "drama"... Just have not heard of this before and would like to know your reasoning behind it

Lots of kids don't believe in Santa. It's one are of white lies that I don't want to continue. I know first-hand that when my sibs and I found out, it really hurt to find out that my mom was lying about something like that.
Santa is also a scary concept. A large, fat man spies on you while you're sleeping all year long, then comes into your house in the middle of the, also while you're sleeping, to put stuff in the house? Too creepy for me. Why is it OK for this man to spy on you, but not other men? If someone breaks into your house wearing a red suit, that's good. If he has black on, it's bad.

DS is in 3rd grade, and hasn't told anybody. We're very open with him about various religions and beliefs, and we tell him that a lot of kids do believe, and it's not his place to try and convince anyone otherwise.

They understand the concept of Santa (he's everywhere, so it's hard to completely ignore him), but for us, he just symbolizes the idea of Christmas. He's in the same category as Mickey Mouse or SpongeBob. They're not real, but you can still talk about them, watch them on TV, or caricatures of them in stores, etc.

Re: What traditions don't you follow?

Posted by MaZz

To the OP, Im curious as to why you didnt have your DC believe in santa, easter bunny etc... I get that its not reality, and year after year you have to tell little white lies to your child, but doesnt it take some of the magic out of it for them? And what about when they are in school? Do they tell other children that those things arent real I dont mean to start any "drama"... Just have not heard of this before and would like to know your reasoning behind it