Rant of the day blog article post 1/18/2026 Reflecting back on the holidays and family traditions written by Jenn D Real.

Rant of the day blog article post 1/18/2026 Reflecting back on the holidays and family traditions written by Jenn D Real. 

I walked into the living room today and noticed that our stockings are still hanging on the mantel. No one’s rushed to take them down yet. That stopped me in my tracks and sent my mind wandering back through the years.

There was one Christmas when my oldest daughter looked at my empty stocking and very seriously asked if I had been a bad person… because Santa hadn’t even left me coal. She had questions. Big ones. The kind only kids ask with total sincerity.

So the next year, a quiet tradition was born.

From then on, the adults’ stockings were filled by the other people in the house. Sometimes the kids would toss something in. Sometimes another adult would. Nothing fancy. Just little things. The kind of thing you spot while shopping and think, Oh, they’d like this, but it doesn’t feel “big enough” to wrap. A dollar item. A small treat. Something that says, I saw this and thought of you.

Over the years, my stocking has collected cat figurines, chocolates, delightfully kooky socks, body sprays, and all kinds of wonderfully random things. Always great.

But the most valuable things were never store-bought.

Little drawings rolled up tight. Handmade trinkets. Notes folded small and tucked inside like secrets. Those are the things that still hum with meaning long after the holidays pass.

Seeing those stockings still hanging there made me realize how traditions don’t always start grand or planned. Sometimes they begin with a child’s question and a parent quietly deciding to make sure everyone feels included.

So now I’m curious.

What are some of the traditions in your family? The small ones. The strange ones. The ones that snuck up on you and stuck around.

Let’s talk about them in the comments.