The "eating party" or so my 4 year old calls it
It is not a family gathering without the food and there is always a gathering for every holiday. In fact, there are particular foods asigned to certain holidays. The actual reason for this tradition is because of my Grandmother's superstitions. We have the regular ham and turkey for Christmas, black eyed peas and cabbage for New Years, Ham for Easter, and Turkey for Thanksgiving. Birthdays HAVE to be celebrated on the actual birthday. IF we ever were to miss one of these eating party rituals, we would have bad luck.

There isn't a ritualistic reason for the amount of food at these parties. It's just common knowlege that every couple or family bring enough to feed everyone. So, if there are 10 dishes, there are 10 servings of each of the 10 dishes. It really is enough to feed a whole village each time.

waving goodbye
From day 1 I remember waving goodbye to my Grandparents as we drove down the street until we turned the corner and couldn't see them anymore out the back window. And my Grandparents stood outside on their porch until we were out of sight. The fun part of this ritual includes another one of Grandma's superstitions. Although we continued to wave until way past the corner, Grandma continues, even now to turn her head before we are out of sight. Aparently this is because if you watch a loved one turn a corner and go out of sight, that will be the last time you ever see them again.

And then we have the house cleaning dance party
This is an old ritual from my childhood that I'd really like to start in my own household. Our house was never really "clean," but the basics always got done like dishes, laundry, and vaccuming. These things always happened on Saturdays and as needed such as the hurried tidying up right before company arrived. These cleaning sessions always included loud music that could be heard throughout the household and just inspired the soul to get a move on with that broom or dishcloth. I'm sure, mostly, it did not speed anything up, it just made it all fun. The broom became a microphone stand and I'm sure you get the idea...