The Joy of Family Traditions: A Season-by-Season Companion to 400 Celebrations and Activities (Paperback)

by Jennifer Trainer Thompson (Author)
Key Phrases: United States, Memorial Day, New York (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
When a special activity evolves into a tradition within a family, it creates meaning, connection, and community and makes common occasions more momentous and memorable. Establishing a sense of stability and shared history has never been more important to parents than it is today, as families become more fractured and scattered. THE JOY OF FAMILY TRADITIONS offers more than 400 fresh ideas and creative approaches to cultivating birthday, anniversary, holiday, and other rite-of-passage and seasonal traditions that strengthen personal bonds and reflect a family's individual style, spirituality, and values.

From the Publisher
* Explores the historical, cultural, and often quirky origins of holidays, customs, and milestones, both uncommon and familiar.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: Ten Speed Press (May 1, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1587611147
• ISBN-13: 978-1587611148
• Product Dimensions: 6.9 x 6.8 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #190,670 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Find Classic Traditions for Your Family, or Make Up New Ones, February 16, 2009

By	Sacramento Book Review "SacramentoBookReview.com" (Sacramento, CA) - See all my reviews

Family traditions are often passed down each generation. What do you do when your parents didn't really have any, or you are trying to blend two families together, and want everyone to feel that they haven't been overlooked? You create your own. Sometimes that is as easy as doing something twice ("Hey, its tradition that we go out for breakfast the morning after Thanksgiving, we did it last year"), or adding new meaning to events as they happen.

/The Joy of Family Traditions/ is a collection of holidays, events, religious days and milestones that any family can add into their annual traditions. There are the big ones--Yom Kippur, Easter, Thanksgiving -- odd ones -- Day Light Savings, Octoberfest -- American ones -- start of baseball season -- and made up ones -- February Hibernation Day. Each has an interesting explanation for the history of the event, traditional methods of celebrating, and suggestions for including it into your family.

Not only a good book for your own family, but a great one for gifting.

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Unique, Charming and Informative Book, April 11, 2008

By	SA Francis "Steph" (Irvine, CA United States) - See all my reviews

I just finished reading this wonderful new book and found it to be both a fascinating history lesson (it provides lots of background information about holidays and traditions from around the world) and an accurate view of family life in modern America. The suggestions it provides are practical and realistic for families who are trying to combine many different cultural backgrounds or step-parents and -siblings.

Most of the other traditions books out there are more of a how-to handbook (with recipe-like instructions) to be consulted on occasion, not a book you can sit down and read cover to cover like this one. The Joy of Family Traditions is a beautiful book with a warm, cozy feel. I also appreciated the sections of this book that talked about family traditions that involve charitable giving, and volunteering. I highly recommend it.

5.0 out of 5 stars Great ideas, July 6, 2009

By	P. A. Meath - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This book has many great ideas about how to create family traditions that will be remembered after your children grow up. It also give you ideas that you can use to taylor your own traditions. Traditions and celebrations do not have to be big expensive productions but they can be joyful and memorable.