Celebrate American Family Day on the First Sunday in August

It seems like there is a special day for almost everything these days. Maybe one of the reasons is because everyone's life is so busy, there needs to be a day to STOP and think about important things. This is really sort of a sad state of affairs. How have we gotten to the point of needing to have an American Family Day? How have we gotten to where everyday is not family day?

Nonetheless, the first Sunday in August has been declared as American Family Day and we should take advantage of any opportunity we have to celebrate family. In fact, it might be a really good time to plan a real family celebration that is not surrounded by the commercialism of Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Easter etc. The first Sunday in August can really be only about family and nothing else.

Families, of course, are the same and different. Each family has a rich tradition that may have become buried under the stress of everyday life. Maybe it is time to unearth some of the traditions that have become lost or buried. Here is an idea for how to plan and unforgettable American Family Day celebration for your family.

Step 1 - Contact all family members near and far and talk to them about your idea to unearth family traditions and to bring them back to life. Ask them to think about traditions surrounding holidays, birthdays, the first day of school, graduations, weddings, illness, death, births, awards, vacations, new jobs, new jobs, first days of spring, summer, fall and winter, first book read, first communion, baptisms, meals menus, recipes etc., etc., etc.

It is important for families to realize their traditions are more than the holidays they celebrate around the year. They are the special traditions celebrated by each family for the reasons that are important to them and not the rest of the world.

Step 2 - Ask that as family members remember the special traditions that they write, e-mail, and/or video tape information about the traditions they remember growing up with as a child in your family.

Step 3 - Collect all of the memories and put them in a book that can be copied for all who want to read about the family's rich history of traditions.