Wednesday, April 2, 2014

Family traditions.

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My husband went on a business trip to WY for a couple of days. When he came home, he brought me this:

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It's a delicious loaf of multi-grain bread baked completely from scratch. It's also a family tradition...

My Dad started this tradition many moons ago, when I was still modeling my very first pair of underwear, the most fashionable in the area (after all, my Dad did work for a textile factory back then). He was also going to school. But in order to support his pretty broke family, he had to work two jobs. So he decided to be an off-campus student getting correspondence assignments from a University in a different city. He was studying to be a lawyer.

Even though he would get most of his assignments by mail, twice a year he had to go to school and spend a month there trying to pass a bazillion tests. That city was about 8 hours by train from where we lived but it had one of the best correspondence programs in the country (he did become a very decent lawyer...in all the meanings of the word). But that meant travel, rent and other expenses you face when you stay somewhere for a whole month. My parents were poor. They were broke.

It was before we even had a home phone, so the only connection that my parents had were handwritten letters and rare phone calls to the neighbors. It was a long seven years (that's how long it took my Dad to finally finish college), especially for my Mom.

That's why my Dad always wanted to bring her something special as a token of his love. But because they had very little money, all he could come up with was a loaf of bread... Every six month he would scavenger the bakeries in that other city to find a new kind of bread we hadn't tried before.

Soon we were looking forward to this special treat. And that's how the tradition was born. Even now, many years later, when we can easily afford other small tokens and souvenirs, the "loaf of bread" is still always there.

And now we're sharing this tradition with our kids... And they surely enjoy it :)

Do you have any traditions that are very dear to your family? Even if it might seem like nothing worth mentioning to others?

Please, do share :) I love to learn about other families' traditions!

17 comments:

  1. What a beautiful story!! My hubby too has to live and travel away from home for many years. His tradition is to bring me his dirty clothes, ha I think I will share your story with him!!!

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  2. What a lovely story and a perfect tradition. One that can be carried out almost anywhere you go.

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    1. Yes, that's why we keep this tradition going :) It's a simple thing but it means a lot for me that hubs does it too :)

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  3. That is a really neat tradition, and great background to it too! Breaking bread is always something associated with families and getting closer together. It also looks very yummy. Glad he's back!

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    1. Oh, me too :) I hate when he's gone, even for a couple of days.

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  4. Lena, that was such a touching and beautiful story. Thank you for sharing that. We do have little traditions like that in our family and household. It is those small and simple things that mean the world to us. Isn't it a blessing to pass traditions like that on to your own children? :)

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    1. Yes, it is :) There are things I don't remember from my childhood - like gifts I got for my Birthdays, etc. - but I do remember the traditions our family created and the special moments we shared together.

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  5. Wow, Lena, what a wonderful story! It would be nice if everyone could treasure such a simple but meaningful item. Especially when it is a special family story :)

    It's not a real "tradition", but since it is bread-related, I will share :) One of my four boys was a very picky eater for a long time. I started taking him with me to grocery-shop, just the two of us, hoping it would make him interested in a bigger variety. We would of course check all the 50%-off bargain bins; his favorite stop was the bread cart. He would choose an artisan-style loaf, and most times he enjoyed it. His favorites today are pumpernickel, marbled rye and rosemary foccacia, foods we might never have tried otherwise (we still only buy off the markdown, so it is a treat and a surprise what we find).

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    1. Oh, I definitely share his taste :) I love your story. And he eats better now, so it's a win-win for everybody :)

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  6. That's a really sweet tradition. I love bread, especially since my sons are allergic to it. I'd rather have good bread than dessert any day. My husband doesn't have many business trips any more. All his trips are for church camps--and there are a lot of those in the summer. Most of the time, he can't call me, so I feel bad for your parents living like that for a whole month. That must have been stressful.

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    1. Then bread is definitely a treat for you, lol! :)

      I bet it's pretty stressful for you too when he's gone. I really don't like when Matt is gone, even for a couple of days...

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  7. This post just made me smile...I so love simple, lovely traditions like this one.

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  8. Daddy just hated cakes and sweet icings. One year, for Christmas I baked a new recipe--Chocolate Pound Cake. I took it every year. One year, he told Mama to call me and tell me to bring Chocolate Pound Cake. I assured him I would bring it every year. It is not a really sweet cake or a very chocolaty cake and has no icing. The recipe is posted on my blog if you are interested.

    There are breads that I would rather have than any dessert. But, your memory is not so much about the bread, but about the love and a tradition.

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  9. That is such a wonderful and wholesome story!!!! Oh and cute!!!!

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