Family Traditions: Pizza Friday at the Taylor House

I have been a bit excited to start blogging and communicating with you. Yes, i’m eager. This blog means a lot to us and we have been talking about doing something like this for a long time. The time is here and I want to get started.

Since we are opening our playbook and showing the people exactly what we are doing with our children, I thought it would be great to start with one of our family traditions. Traditions are things you do over and over inside of your family that comes to be expected by you and the children. They don’t have to be ground breaking, but they should be consistent, interesting, meaningful and fun.

Why Establish Family Traditions?

This is a great question and one we should answer quickly to give some background and insight. Family traditions are very import but here are some of the reasons we love them and maybe you should consider starting a few yourself:

• Encourages family members to spend time together. Getting quality time as a family is very important to build strong family relationships.
• Gives family members time to communicate with one another. Sharing the highs and lows of life with one another. Supporting each other through problems and celebrating the successes.
• Embellishes what is important to the family, members. Strengthens the family’s values, beliefs, and carves out a place in the world.
• Gives an opportunity for the family to build it’s interpersonal dynamics, conflict resolution, deal with hurt feelings and misunderstandings. (They happen in every family.)
• Provides an outlet for the family to share, love, laugh, build loyalty, unity, a sense of commitment to one another, and team work.

Pizza Friday at the Taylor House

Team Taylor Family Pizza Night

The first tradition I am exposing is PIZZA FRIDAY!! This is a serious one for Team Taylor. We love pizza and we love spending some time with each other, so why not combine the two into an enjoyable evening?

Every Friday since 2001, we have had pizza night in our house. Even when we are out of town with friends and family, we do our best to have pizza Friday. We don’t miss it if possible. There must be less than 5 times during this period we have missed our pizza Friday.

It is a great time around our home. As I said, everyone loves pizza in the house, so why not. The boys and I will continue to each the pizza during the rest of the weekend, but Krys doesn’t seem to like second or third day pizza as much as we do. (Fine by us!)

In addition to the pizza, Krys and I have a few beers as well. Let’s face it, pizza and beer just goes together. As most parents do, the boys are our beer runners when it is time for a new one. They know their parents enjoy drinking some beer, so they strive to make us happy.

Obviously, we don’t get hammered by the beers, but there is nothing wrong with a few beers. We enjoy them. The boys get a chance to witness responsible drinking. It is typically a good night.

Lately, Krys has started buying Dominick’s pizzas and chopping up a bunch of veggies to go on them. We love pizza covered with as much as possible. The winner has been spinach on the pizza. Might not sound appealing at first, but trust me it is wonderful! You won’t regret this if you give it a shot.

During the family pizza nights, anything can happen. We could end up sitting around and chatting for hours. We might watch a television show or movie together. There could be a fight or MMA contest on that night. (We enjoy MMA and boxing as a family.) Family gaming could break out on the Wii, PS3, board games, or even something outside. We could even go our separate ways from the boys. The latter gives Krys and I an opportunity to spend some one on one time together.

Either way, we have fun, enjoy some pizza, and beer for the parents. Maybe you should considering having a pizza night with your family. It is wonderful and children always seem to really enjoy knowing what is coming in their week. They love structure and being able to know what is coming up. If it is something coming up that gets the entire family involved, then it is better.

Do you and your family have a pizza night? If so, what night of the week is family pizza night in your home? If not, do you have any other family traditions that you would like to share?

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