Thanksgiving is all about food, football, family and, let’s not forget, thanks.  We have all participated in the ritual at Thanksgiving dinner of sharing what we are thankful for.  My family will forever be on the top of my personal thankful list.

My Mother’s holiday dinners are legendary in my family.  She was famous for her innocent double entrendres that made her blush when pointed out, and made for enduring Thanksgiving stories.  She was also famous for the one memorable Thanksgiving when a pre-dinner martini turned her into a football quarterback with a bad passing arm.  When she served the mashed potatoes, the bowl went (more…)

I can remember my Mother and her best friend Sleepy Bierman sitting at our kitchen table at Schilling Air Force Base in Salina Kansas talking how at the age they were then, maybe 45, they still felt 25.  That’s how I feel at sixty - I feel like I am 45….only better!  I am healthier, smarter, richer and so much better at not taking things personally.  I believe women, because of their nurturing spirits, spend most of their lives getting over things that have absolutely nothing to do with them.  I don’t take anything personally anymore.  I know that whoever is pushing my button, it’s my button and I can either heal it or let people keep pushing it.  Conversely, if I push someone’s emotional button, I know that it’s their stuff they need to work on and has nothing to do with me.  What freedom that gives me. 

Aging gracefully requires you to make sure there are certain life components in place.  One component that has become most critical to me in the past week is (more…)

Women have more power than ever in this era.  I am estactic that Hilary Clinton got as close as she did in the presidential race and would have been even more so if she had won the nomination.  To celebrate Halloween with your circle of women friends, ask each friend to come to a celebration dressed as their favorite heroine.  They need not pick someone famous; a heroine can be someone who made a difference in your life like a teacher, parent, aunt.  Ask them to come prepared with the story of how they were touched moved and inspired by their heroine.  This is a wonderful opportunity to revisit that moment in time when your life shifted because of one person’s words, actions or support.  Perhaps an interesting twist at the end would be for the women in the group to recount whose life they touched, moved or inspired.

The outcome of this ritual is the acknowledgement of women; in the room, in your life, in the world and their power to change a life, many lives and the world.

Linda Ann Smith
Author and Speaker
Power of Rituals: How to Connect, Cultivate and Celebrate the Relationships of Your Life.

No doubt months of planning has ensued with hilarity, arguments, storytelling of past reunions…..can’t you just picture the emails flying through cyberspace and the telephone lines buzzing planning these reunions that will go down in family history. 

Magazines have been churning out tips and resources on how to plan a family reunion.  Martha Stewart has tips on software to create a family album and family reunion products such as t-shirts, tote bags and buttons.  There are websites to help you plan a family reunion, send out invitations to a family reunion and create a family reunion website.  Family reunions are big business! 

Along with the normal family reunion rituals such as community cooking, relay races, sandcastle building, family hikes or fishing contests, here are a few other tips for creating memorable moments during your family reunion:

1.  Create a family tree:  Pack up flip chart paper, bags of markers, stickers, ribbon, glue - lots of arts and craft supplies.  During the reunion each family will make their own family tree.  Along with birth, death and wedding dates, add other important dates and information such as if someone is a breast cancer survivor or  hiked the Grand Canyon or did something astounding, creative or courageous.  Encourage family members to create a family tree piece of art.  Make sure there is somewhere to post the family trees so family members can add supportive comments on each other’s trees.

2.  In advance, assign different members of the family to research an ancestor; a great grandmother or grandfather, great aunt or uncle. Bring a photo of the ancestor and be prepared to tell their story to the rest of the family.  Look for strengths and character in the ancestors that members of this generation display such as courage (be specific), tenancity, fortitude, resourcefulness, compassion, leaps of faith.  You can go all out and get the photos blown up postersize and hang them up for the storytelling part of the reunion.

3.  Celebrate each other.  Draw names in advance of the family reunion.  The person drawing the name, calls or meets with the relative whose name they drew and conducts an interview.  Come up with 6-10 questions ranging from serious to silly such as: “What difficulty did you overcome this year and how did you do it?” or “What dreams did you make come true this year?” or “What was your most embarrassing moment in high school?”  Be sure you have questions for all ages.  Then, schedule time throughout the family reunion for the reporters to report.

We at Power of Rituals would love to hear your family reunion rituals.  Please share them so other families will be inspired an movtivated to bring your rituals to their reunions.

Linda Ann Smith
Author, Speaker, Ritual Expert
Power of Rituals

I know of two mothers: one that is uneducated, a manual laborer, from another culture with street smarts.  The other holds a Ph.D., born in America with book smarts.  Both mothers are behaving in the same manner toward their daughter.  Both mothers are holding their (more…)

Baby boomers are considered the “sandwich” generation being sandwiched between our parents and our children. While we are caring for both, we are also becoming who we finally want to be. It just took us many years to get to there, accumulate life experiences and wisdom, have our hearts broken, lives reversed, hardships born in anquish, to get to that magic age of knowing to the core of our being who we are and who we want to become.

Maria Shriver, in her book Just Who Will You Be talks about loosing herself in her many roles. It’s about a woman, any woman, who gets (more…)

Of course, my meaning is about relationships.  Today a group of Colorado recycling  women gathered for a spring ritual at Anne Peter’s home to pamper our faces with organic, herbal facials.  It was a celebration of women who have collaborated (more…)

On an Oprah show in the not to distant past, a woman told about purchasing a pair of Oprah’s shoes on one of Oprah’s clothing and shoe auctions to benefit chairty.  The woman took the shoes home and stood in Oprah’s shoes for (more…)

For many years. the ritual of shopping with my mother for my Easter dress was something I looked forward to starting right after Valentine’s Day.  One year, my Mother was visiting my Grandmother in Denver so my Dad (more…)

How would it be for you if you greeted people with such a sense of joy?  How it would be for that person?  Who have you taken for granted lately that you would like to acknowledge for their help, support or even that he or she made you (more…)