So a boy meets a girl right? Well maybe a boy meets a boy and a girl meets a girl, but you get where I'm going with this. A person meets a person and they fall in love. They have a child together and find themselves referring to this new unit as a “family”. That is what happens – they get a whole new family. A blank canvas. It's a really beautiful thing. 

The thing is though, both people have come from their own families. Families which may have had entirely different ways of approaching occasions and celebrations. Up until now it was never an issue. It was easy to spread yourselves amongst everyone and find a happy medium of sorts. But now? Well now you have these new little people in your lives. A bit of you and a bit of your partner. Little blank canvasses who have no sense of tradition at all. Christmas, Easter, Halloween and everything in between – all events that will one day have a meaning in their lives. Traditions will be made, rituals will be experienced and these holidays will soon have a very meaningful place in their hearts. 

No pressure right?! This is where we currently find ourselves. Little man will be two in June and has just come from a Christmas where “ho ho” actually seemed to mean something to him. Anything remotely resembling Santa Claus is given an enthusiastic song and a smile. It is adorable. By next Christmas it will be even more exciting. We want to create as much excitement and happy memories for him as possible. 

Creating new traditions is a real privilege. But with such a privilege comes the pressure of wanting to do things the right way. Nobody really knows what the right way is but it's something we all strive for nonetheless. As Easter looms around the corner we find ourselves talking about the little traditions we had in our own childhoods. We find ourselves in that place again making plans and trying to think of ways to merge both of our family traditions together and somehow create our own at the same time. 

I wonder did our own parents complicate things this much? Probably not. I'll blame the lack of sleep. 

Written by Tracey, mummy blogger and staff writer with www.familyfriendlyhq.ie Check out her own blog at love-of-living.blogspot.ie