A Family Like Rumblebuffin's

Reflecting on family traditions, Jake Frost hopes that the heritage left by past generations will continue to bring joy to his kids as they make their own ways in life.

I love family traditions. Like the hat my mom knit for me 40 years ago, I hold on to them.  

And now, just like that hat, I share them with my kids. 

As it was for Mr. Rumblebuffin the giant in The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, I’ve always wanted my kids to come from a family with traditions. 

Traditions are a gift that have been handed on to me. My wife and I have created some that are unique to our family, and as a parent I’ve hoped our family traditions will take root in my kids to continue into future generations. 

It would be sad to think that when my kids move on from life under the roof we’ve shared that the traditions of our shared life would exist only in photo albums. 

Time will tell, but I’ve gotten a few positive signs so far this holiday season.  

Signs of Life  

This is a time of the year dripping with traditions, like a Christmas tree laden with ornaments from yesteryear, and the season has awoken a zeal in my older kids to make sure their youngest sister gets to experience “the things we always do.” 

Our older kids range in age from “almost 12” to (yikes!) 17.  

Then there was a long gap before their youngest sister, Little Stella, made her entrance on the scene.  

She’s now 2, and her siblings have been keen to introduce her to all the different strands that weave together into our family heritage. 

At Thanksgiving we had to do our traditional potato-foot races (race while balancing a potato on your foot — kind of like an egg-on-a-spoon race, but less yolky). 

Saint Nick’s Day just wouldn’t be the same all the denizens of the house, from the grizzly old Papa bear down to the youngest cub, didn’t leave their shoes out for surprises — chocolate gold coins! 

And the first snow of the year! We always celebrate the first appearance of snowflakes in the sky with homemade chocolate chip cookies and hot chocolate and “Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Let It Snow” playing on repeat. 

Ice skating outside is just around the corner! 

And so on. 

It does my heart good to see the older kids’ enthusiasm for their childhood memories, and their eagerness to introduce their little sister to these same experiences. 

But how would all this be received by our young protege?  

The Happy Jar  

Among our family traditions is a special one called The Happy Jar. It comes from one of our older daughters. Many years ago, when that older daughter was herself very young, she shared with us about her Happy Jar, which she explained was the place in her heart where she put all her happy memories.  

Ever since then, every night when we say our family prayers we all share one thing from our day that goes into our Happy Jar. 

I later wrote a children’s book about it, called The Happy Jar. 

One drowsy afternoon when two-year-old Little Stella and I were ensconced, cozy and warm in The Big Chair (the easy chair in the living room), I was reading her story books and in the stack was The Happy Jar. She loved it. And she pointed to a drawing of a father dancing with his little daughter, twirling in the kitchen. She put her finger on the father and looked at me and said, “Daddy.” Then she moved her finger to the little girl and said “Stella.”  

When we finished, she said, “Read it again, Daddy.” 

We ended up reading it again about five times.  

I think the traditions are taking root. I hope they will bring my children, and my grandchildren, as much joy as they’ve brought me.  

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Copyright 2025 Jake Frost
Images: Canva