I come from a secular American family. This means that while we celebrated the traditional American holidays we never really went above and beyond. We weren't a family that reveled in tradition or customs, and there was very little we did just-because-we-do-it-every-year. We also moved a lot and didn't live near our extended family, so that piece of the puzzle wasn't there, either. Don't know what difference it would have (realistically) made if it were (except maybe more tension). All I know is that it was something I didn't have.

When I met my husband one thing I was fascinated by was that although his nuclear family is small (and not very close, I should add), his extended family is quite large. They are a family that gets together for the holidays. They have holiday traditions. They are ethnic, although I'm sure they wouldn't describe themselves that way. The towns that they all live in in Western Massachusetts are filled with people of Polish heritage. This is part of their identity.

Now that I am a parent I am trying to create a sense of tradition for my boys. We integrate my husband's traditions into my rootless American ones, and we've added some in as the years have gone by. We celebrate Family Day, which is part the anniversary of Little J's adoption and part excuse to have a party celebrating our larger family of friends. On Christmas eve we have a small dinner party where we serve my husband's family's traditional Polish foods - pierogis and kielbasa - to our closest friends.

Now that Little J is with us we've added a few Russian traditions. At Easter, for example, I attempted to make Pashka, a traditional Russian Easter cake. On New Year's I'll make some kutia. I'm seaching for other ways besides food to integrate Little J's Russian heritage into our family traditions.

How about you? Do you think this is important? Have you managed to integrate any Russian traditions into your family's holiday celebrations?