My culture ~ My Traditions ~ My Family By: Lindsay Spence

Family Reunions Every couple of years, my Dad’s side of the family – cousins, aunts, second cousins– gets together for a week in the summer to catch up and reunite. We’ve had 2 reunions so far where everyone comes from different parts of BC to all meet up at my Dad’s cousin’s beach house in the Shuswap.

Christmas Take-out dinner During Christmas break, my Grandma hosts a dinner for my Mom’s side of the family where we all get together and order Chinese food. This tradition arose one year and seems to have stuck because we have been doing it ever since.

Christmas Baking Every year during Christmas break, my mom and I spend a portion of every day baking Christmas treats. We make things like my Grandmas Nanaimo bar recipe and ginger snap cookies which we then give to everyone in the family. We recently picked up a pretzel and M&M recipe that was a huge hit this past Christmas.

Documenting Memories My parents kept books/boxes for my 2 sisters and me that contain pictures and objects from when we were babies inside. My grandparents did the same for my parents and every once in a while, we’ll go through all the pictures and my parents will tell me all about when I was a baby.

Chocolate Cake My great grandmother passed her chocolate cake recipe to my grandma and she has been making it ever since I was young. She used to wrap quarters, dimes, and nickels in plastic wrap then put the in the cake so we would get a little cash surprise in our pieces of cake. Due to old age, she doesn’t make the cakes as often and we only get personal sized birthday cakes.

Camping presents When I was much younger, every time we would go on a family camping trip to the Okanagan, my mom would buy presents for my older sister and I to open every hour of the drive. Her hopes were to keep us occupied but we usually just played for a bit then complained until we got the next present. My little sister wasn’t born yet when we started this tradition but it has seemed to fade every since she was born.

Christmas Eve My older sister and I have made our own tradition of going to McDonalds for dinner on Christmas Eve. We made this tradition of our own and we agreed to continue it into our adulthood. The rest of my family also joined in on our tradition and now, every Christmas Eve, we get McDonalds and watch Christmas movies the open our Christmas pajamas.

Boat Driving My dad inherited a boat from his uncle and he is absolutely in love with it. He wanted to teach my sisters and I how to drive it like when his dad did when he was young but I was the only one willing to learn. Being out on the water and spending that time with my dad was a very important and significant memory from my childhood.

Christmas Games We play several games at both of my grandparent’s houses at Christmas time. At my grandma’s (Mom’s side), we play ‘Poop the Potato’ and ‘Dice Doubles’. At my grandparent’s (Dad’s side), we play a secret gift games that can last for hours. Having tons of games to play brings my family together and makes us all happy to be with each other.

Summer Camping My dad has a campsite in a small town outside of Vernon that he takes us to for a week or two every summer. The site is in between 2 lakes (Kalamalka and Wood lake) that are both within walking distance of his trailer. We haven’t always gone to this site but we have been going camping in the Okanagan since before I was born and my parents have made life long friends through this experience.