Holidays bring up a lot of memories for me and holiday traditions have always been a big part of making the holiday season special. These little traditions seem to make us feel more connected to one another. They remind us of where we came from, why we are here and why we love the little things that make us who we are.

Some of these traditions may be a special place visited or a specific dish made during the holidays. They may even be the way you decorated your home during the Christmas season, but that’s why they should transcend time.

I have so many great memories of Christmas from my past. From my Grandpa Ray Belyeu giving us kids $20 to get little gifts for everyone. It may not seem like a lot to some, but to me as a child it was a million dollars. I love that he enjoyed watching us spend it and that he taught us the joy of giving.

Oh how I loved my grandma’s chocolate sheet cake and her homemade rolls she would make at Christmas time too! It was always my grandma and mama in the kitchen cooking up the scalloped potatoes, baked beans, green bean casserole and turkey and giblets. This is why today I still cook all those traditional dishes because it reminds me of home.

At Christmas we also loved going to Branson as a family. From the time I was a little girl to when I began taking my own children back, year after year, some of my fondest memories of Christmas revolve around Branson and the tradition we made of going there. It’s these traditions I grew up with and these times I wish I could go back to.

My daddy loved going to Branson during the holidays and he especially enjoyed the big, musical tree inside Silver Dollar City. I can remember sitting and watching that tree for hours at the end of a full day of Christmas shopping and Christmas shows. We would line up to watch the Christmas parade go around the park and then we would sit, sipping hot cocoa, as the tree played its beautiful sounds of Christmas. Those Branson trips and that tradition was always something I looked forward to each year and it just didn’t seem like Christmas if for some reason we didn’t get to go. My sweet grandmother, Eloise Belyeu, who always went with us, would even buy us season passes for the next year to keep us going back year after year. Oh how I miss those days gone by and the family that made those times so special! It really was a wonderful family tradition that I wish we still did today.

I think traditions should transcend the death of our loved ones. Sometimes they do, but unfortunately many times they don’t. I really don’t understand why these traditions don’t continue, especially when they have meant so much to us; maybe we just get too busy and we don’t take the time to honor these traditions of the past. However, it’s these holiday traditions that have played such an important role in shaping our identities and connecting us to each other and to our past and present. These traditions are what mold us not just individually but collectively as a family unit coming together to create a lasting moment that hopefully will transcend time.

I know my time with my father and my grandparents was very special and there are days I would give everything I have to just spend one more day with them whether shopping or going to Branson. I would love to ride the train with them around the park to see all the lights just one more time and I would love to buy one more blanket to wrap around our shoulders and snuggle close to stay warm. Most of all, I would love to hear their laughter and their voices lifted up in song, singing underneath that big, old Christmas tree in Silver Dollar City.

I miss those holiday traditions and I still believe they should transcend death because these are the memories that have lasted a lifetime. I pray they live on through many generations because they become traditions kept through the generations.