[L-R: Sufern, Adeline, Kelly, Ethan, Max and Mom]
Every family has 'em. Well, most do. And recently, although Kelly and I have talked about this very topic before, I was really thinking about what our budding family can do, while Ethan is very young, that will be repeated year after year in establishing our own family traditions.
Here are but a few of the ideas we hope to implement as our family grows:
(1) Ayyam-i-Ha Service Project
During the time of Ayyam-i-Ha (aka Intercalary Days), February 26th - March 1st, our family will offer our services to the greater community. Some examples of what our family can do include: volunteering at an elderly home, helping to clean up a local park, organizing an outing for underpriveleged children in the area, offering virtues classes for neighborhood children, help spread cheer at local homeless shelters, fundraise for certain charities and causes, etc... Moreover, I hope to make more of Ayyam-i-Ha including making our home more festive with decorations, children's activities, gift giving, and joyous celebration. For Baha'is, this time of the year preceeds the fasting month of Ala (Loftiness) which occurs March 2nd until March 20th every year, with March 21st being Naw Ruz (New Year) coinciding with the beginning of Spring.
(2) Home-made Birthday Cake
Pretty self explanatory. For every birthday in our family, we will try and bake a cake from scratch.
(3) Daily Baha'i Prayers and Readings
Rather than a tradition, it is a Baha'i obligation to pray at least once in a day and also to read the Creative Word in the morn and in the eve. Of course, not every Baha'i does this, and it really just comes down to personal initiative. So, I would like to make this a daily practice with our Ethan and family.
Do you have any long-standing family traditions you would like to recommend/share?
