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Like most people, I love traditions. For instance, when I was a kid we had turkey on Thanksgiving, ham on Christmas, and roast beef on New Year's (actually, I didn't much like roast beef, but the Yorkshire pudding my mom made with it - bascially bread and fat - oh, man).

Now that I have a family of my own, it feels like it's up to me to make traditions. That's a lot of pressure. But it occurred to me the other day that some of what's occurred in kind of a happenstance manner means the most. When we lived in Merced several years back, we heard a community theater would be performing "Much Ado About Nothing" in Applegate Park. We went to check it out and loved it; we've returned with a picnic every year since. A few years ago, we started having Christmas Eve dinner with my stepdaughters' mom and her side of the family. It's fun and I think it's great for the girls, who don't have to split time between parents. As work schedules allow, I hope we continue this even as they leave home.

But even those things are somewhat formal and planned. This year, Nicholas and I fell into a tradition of going to outdoor movie night in Turlock. Once, we stopped for dinner at Taco Bell, and so that's our thing now. Generally, it's on a night my husband is working, but last week we all got to go.

Even thinking back. some of my favorite traditions from my childhood aren't big productions: donuts on Sundays, evening walks with the dog and the cat (never ceased to amaze me the cat would follow us around the neighborhood), playing catch with my dad.

It's been a great lesson that you don't need flowers and checkered tableclothes to start a tradition with your kids that they will love. Sometimes it just takes a bag of Taco Bell and a blanket.