Thursday 24 April 2014

The Colour Collaborative: April: Tradition

Nothing calms and soothes and reassures quite like tradition.  It is the comforting rhythm of life, and when everything else is falling apart, tradition is there to tell you that life goes on, through the tough times, through despair and through sadness, on through to days of happiness, laughter and contentment.

Traditions can be big or small.  Vast gatherings of white-clad pilgrims at holy shrines, or you and your best friend chatting on your sofa once a year.  It doesn't matter.  What is important is that regularity, that anchor in the passing of the months, that moment that has passed but that you know will come again.

Traditions are pins in the fabric of our days, attaching themselves between loose random events and dramas, holding everything together, so that we can cope with the things in between, because we know that soon we will gather and walk or eat or converse or laugh or cry like we always do.

Traditions are get-togethers, rituals, food, clothes, in fact anything that you make them.  They are solemn services in ancient candlelit churches and they are richly coloured tartans, they are meetings of like minds to celebrate a shared passion and they are marzipan-yellow cakes made with symbolism and an old handed-down recipe.

Traditions might have been going on for centuries, or started by you not so long ago.  The value in a tradition is not in the size or age, but in the feeling it gives you.  That comforting sense of reassurance, or that renewal of energy and enthusiasm and determination that connecting with others can bestow.  On the face of it, it might seem simple, but each and every tradition we allow into our lives builds and shapes our history, however slightly, and gives us regular rituals and moments to look forward to.

Traditions are something I've added to my life, in small and simple measure, as the children have grown.  They've crept into our lives while we weren't noticing, and now they are things that form the stable framework of our family life.  One of my favourites is our annual Boxing Day or New Year's Day visit to the beach.  It doesn't have to be Boxing Day or New Year's Day, but any one of those post-Christmas days when we just need to be outside in miles of space and fresh air.  We park the car at one end of sea front, and walk with a football or two all along the sand.  We run, we chase, we kick the balls and I always take photos to remember a happy moment.  It's nothing grand or complicated, but it's something we love to do and something we always look forward to.


The light here is always at its loveliest in the short days of December.  As the sun gets as low and far away as it can, the beautiful greys and muted blues of the sea and sky form the most wonderful backdrop.



Sometimes the sun touches the edges of the clouds and turns little faces golden.  At that moment, life is utterly perfect.  Time together, with the people I love most, free, blessed, happy.


When I look back at these days throughout the year it's with a smile.  I see how big my little people are getting, how small and sweet they used to be.  I remember the year one of them wasn't too well, the year it rained so hard the littlest boy had to be carried and we were soaked to our underwear, the year we laughed so much we fell over.


I treasure the pictures and the memories, and I look forward to the next time we'll go.  And I wonder if one day my children will take their children to the beach after Christmas and start a family tradition of their own.


Do you have a tradition that you've started?  Something that brings comfort or happiness or ritual to your life?  I'd love to hear, if you'd like to share.

To visit the other Colour Collaborative blogs for more of this month's posts just click on the links below:

        Sandra at Cherry Heart                                  Gillian at Tales from a Happy House

        Annie at Knitsofacto                                       Jennifer at Thistlebear


                                What is The Colour Collaborative?

All creative bloggers make stuff, gather stuff, shape stuff, and share stuff. Mostly they work on their own, but what happens when a group of them work together? Is a creative collaboration greater than the sum of its parts? We think so and we hope you will too. We'll each be offering our own monthly take on a colour related theme, and hoping that in combination our ideas will encourage us, and perhaps you, to think about colour in new ways."

34 comments:

  1. Family traditions are what make our lives rich and meaningful.. bravo for yours!
    ((hugs)), Teresa :-)

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  2. This is such a lovely post CJ. We have lots of family traditions too and its funny because as my girls have got older and are now all in their early 20's they are the ones who insist on all the usual things taking place - right down to the egg hunt in the garden this weekend !
    Kate x

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  3. I love your tradition and your photos capture it's very essence. Thank you so much for sharing them.

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  4. Our part time dog is one for traditions. Certain things have to happen at a certain time on a certain day or she stamps her paws and sighs.

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  5. Now that I think of it, we do have a lot of small traditions in our family. The first ritual picnic of the year, the May Bank holiday camping trip with friends, the naughty Saturday lunch time fry up.... so many more. Thank you so much for bringing traditions in this lovely family sense to my mind. Cxx

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  6. Traditions we start when our children are young will be looked back upon fondly when they're grown, I know I do with traditions from my own childhood. Now my children are older, I realise that some traditions are being left behind and new ones are being started.

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  7. An interesting tradition. Spent our sunday morning by walking along the country road and farm pathway, also looking for wild and oldies plant to be collected is our favorite. When I was a little girl, I had nice trip with my parent and my brothers also my sisters. Now, I have simple nice trip with my little family. A little pleasure of life.

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  8. Great writing CJ, I love the way you broke down different types of traditions and how wide ranging they can be. A winter walk on the beach is a great tradition to start. Mine seem to all revolve around food! There are certain things I like to buy or bake and eat at Bonfire Night, Christmas, Easter etc. x

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  9. With our girls being so young we're only just developing our traditions through the year. It makes me think about the traditions my parents developed (some knowingly and some serendipitously) and how we might make these our traditions too. Lovely writing.

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  10. Beautiful! I love the little traditions that our family is forming and how special they become as the years accumulate - Sunday roasts, walks on the beach, camping at Easter (well usually!). Loving your photos here too. Mel x

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  11. The photos are wonderful and they capture the light so well. I love learning about others' traditions, especially in other countries, because they can be so different from the ones I know. A lot are the same too, of course. Thanks for sharing, I enjoyed this a lot.

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  12. Another delightful post with some evocative photos. I think that we often tend to remember ordinary, but enjoyable, days like these just as much as the grander occasions.
    I'm all for traditions, more so the smaller more ordinary ones. Flighty xx

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  13. Looks like you all really enjoy that beach.

    We don't have a lot of traditions, apart from the usual Christmas ones --- lights, tree, turkey for supper. But, your post makes me think that maybe Steve and I need to start some new traditions ---- just for us (now that our boy is all grown up and on his own).

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  14. The best kinds of traditions involve sea air I often think ... we do something similar after almost every holiday that involves eating too much! And these are gorgeous images ... the light is as gold as a Christmas tree bauble.

    Sandra mentioned her tradition of eating just one sprout at Christmas dinner in her post today, somehow I imagine your family, so well provided with home grown veg, scoffing lots if sprouts, am I wrong?

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  15. I loved reading this, CJ. You are such a beautiful writer. I've been thinking a lot about traditions lately, too. Things that I had let fall to the wayside I am now fighting to get back again. Your trip to the beach looks like a wonderful tradition that I'm sure your boys will carry one:)

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  16. Lovely reading about traditions and seeing your images of one of your family traditions. It is special to add new ones too. One of our traditions is a Good Friday Hike, unfortunately we didn't get to do it this year as there were too many other things happening. It felt strange missing it! Sarah x

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  17. Great post... I love the idea of laughing so much you fall over! I realised last weekend that one of my favourite family traditions is the Easter egg hunt in the garden. Even now they are teenagers, the kids tell me they don't want a big Easter egg - just the small ones I hide for them to find because that's more fun.

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  18. What a beautiful post. You described traditions in general and your family's in such a lovely way. It will make me consider them more, for both the older and younger generations. More than just memories, but traditions. I'll try to craft some more.

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  19. I love those winter sea colours.
    We do the Boxing Day walk as well. It's probably the one I enjoy most all year because I can feel it doing me some good. The excesses of the previous day don't seem quite so bad!

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  20. I have a few traditions and one is on Mothers day we drive, me ,hubby the girls to Richmond park we sit on my crochet zigzag blanket and we all have a turn telling each other one thing that has annoyed us and one positive thing about each other. It is a wonderful cathartic experience and we then hug and kiss and it feels so special .
    Another tradition we have never stopped even though my eldest is 26 we all go conker picking. We all enjoy it so much. We started this when she was three as hubby picked conkers with his family. I hope when my daughters have a family they will continue.
    You have written a lovely piece .I love your welcome photo of you and your camera you look beautiful .

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  21. Lovely to see your beautiful post and the traditions in your family - your photos are beautiful and I love the colours and the light at the seaside.
    The beach is always a good place to go as a family - swimming and playing and walking along the sand and it is something my family likes to do.
    happy day
    Carolyn

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  22. I seriously have never heard anyone describe tradition as beautifully as you just did! It gave me chills and if you don't mind I would like to refer to this post next week when I write my next post!?! You nailed it...that is all we have and it does shape us in so many ways. I think that we bloggers have that in common. We feel things such as traditions so deeply which in part is why we blog...to share these passions that pulse and make our lives rich. Your photographs of your family are beautiful and those blues in the sky are so amazing! What a wonderful tradition this is with your boys! Wishing you an outstanding weekend and I am so glad we are connected on this journey! Nicole xoxo

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  23. You are so right, traditions are an anchor, they were for me in childhood. As a parent this is one of the things I have struggled with it seems my husbands family had none and I am therefore struggling to bring them into our life as he doesn't 'get them'

    Your photos are beautiful :)

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  24. My husband and I dream of living near the beach, this is a lovely tradition that you have. Actually, we are traveling at the moment and staying near the beach, so its my lucky day! And I do believe we will be as bundled up as you guys are even though it is almost May!

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  25. What memories your pictures bring back, I grew up in Weston-super-Mare and a Chrstmas walk along the seafront was our tradition too. Now I live in New Zealand and still close to a beach where our tradition has become Christmas Day with friends at their home on the river estuary.

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  26. Lovely traditions and lovely photos, so atmospheric. Most of my Christmas traditions involve too much eating, maybe I need to start some new ones, more like this!

    S x

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  27. Lovely photos of your family on the beach. I'm always fascinated by the little things people do differently at Christmas when they follow their own traditions. Although I have plenty fresh air over Christmas looking after animals, I still need the extra walk (and fresh air and exercise) on Boxing Day.

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  28. One of my favorite posts. You put what traditions means into words so perfectly. After each paragraph, I felt I understood more and more why we love them so much. It makes sense the way you explain it and it's also quite romantic. It's so nice you have not only the pictures to commemorate these visits, but, of course, the memories too. Happy weekend CJ!

    p.s. I love the new look of this space!

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  29. We also go to the beach between Christmas and new year. We always travel to Filey when we get a new car and eat fish and chips but NOT in the car. We also have a tradition when we have a family meal of passing the potatoes to my step father with the line "potatoes up your end Brigadier?". All of which are the essential fabric of our lives. This is a thought-provoking and uplifting post. Thank you x

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  30. Such sweet family traditions and a lovely thoughtful post.
    Helen xox

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  31. A wonderful post CJ, so many wonderful memories already made - and I love how tradition also gives you promise of happy times to come! Chrissie x

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  32. family traditions are the most important ones of all x

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  33. I love my family and our traditions is what makes our family unique. Love your blog. I just found you through cherry heart.

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