My family has some unique traditions.  For one, we always have scavenger hunts for birthdays.  This started when the kids were three and could recognize numbers.  They followed the trail of numbers to the stash of birthday presents! It has become ever more elaborate! My 18-year-old had a four-hour scavenger hunt with six friends that included dinner at the local Chinese restaurant, a visit to a game store and a bookstore, and dessert at a different restaurant. (Yes, there were clues hidden in the fortune cookies!)

Another tradition in our family is to have the not-Greek relatives (my side of the family) join the Greek relatives (yep, my husband’s side of the family) for Greek Easter, which is rarely on the same day as Easter. We put together a fabulous egg hunt for the little ones, with every child receiving his or her own assigned color making the hunt more “fair.”  Then we play the red egg cracking game. The objective is to be the last person with an uncracked egg. Each person selects a hardboiled egg that has been dyed bright red, and an opponent. Opponents bash their eggs against each other.  The winner moves to the next round. Strangely, one egg always cracks and the other never does. You learn quickly that eggs are strongest at their tip. (What? You didn’t know that eggs have tips?)

There are so many more traditions. We always celebrate Pi Day by having two pie courses for dinner on March 14^th, say shepherd’s pie followed by apple pie. Mother’s Day is actually grandmother’s day, as mom futzes in the garden. But perhaps our quirkiest tradition is backwards leap year.  Instead of receiving gifts for gift giving occasions we give them.  This means we are particularly busy around our own birthdays, between making or buying gifts, wrapping them and preparing birthday cake! (Yes, I am planning a scavenger hunt for mine, though that is not until November!)

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Newenka DuMont