Insecure Writers’ Support Group Monthly Blog for March

[image error]Welcome to the March edition of the ISWG’s blog.  This month’s question is: Other than the obvious holiday traditions, have you ever included any personal or family traditions/customs in your stories?

That’s a difficult question to answer since I don’t think my family does anything different from most Canadian families.

It was different when I was a child, but many of the French-Canadian customs in my family simply vanished due to the changing dynamics. We used top go to Midnight Mass at Christmas, at midnight. Now, churches tend to celebrate much earlier in the evening–six or seven pm. New Year’s Day would bring family into town from the country, but after my own grandparents died, that stopped.  We used to go to my uncle’s sugar bush around Easter, but the farm was sold and is now a housing development. I have lost touch with all my second, third, and fourth cousins.

As well, both my husband and my brother-in-law are English protestant, so their customs weren’t mine. As a result, we drifted away from our traditions and customs and embraced those that were the norm. I have used some of those in my books.

As far as other celebrations go, we really don’t have any. What I have incorporated into my books are the words my grandkids invented growing up and some of their habits. For example, in In Plain Sight, the child uses “ahind” My granddaughter’s logic was if you say ahead, why not ahind? I also used “chibens”, her name for pigeons since they was like chickens.  In His Christmas Family, the youngest child has a large beige blankie, just like my grandson did, and as the youngest of four, laments always being last, too.

So, what about you? Do you incorporate family customs in what you write?

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