Woman are often the ones making holidays special—whether Hanukkah, Ramadan, Christmas, or another tradition—by carrying on customs, making space for rituals, creating gatherings for friends and family, and producing feasts for all to enjoy. This can either be a blessing or a burden.

You may love to entertain and find holidays to be your favorite time of year, or if you dislike entertaining you may enter the season with the goal to endure it. Yet, if you embody fully the role of custodian of traditions you can take the reins and create customs for your family that support your particular likes and dislikes, while honoring your heritage.

I love to cook and entertain; yet, I never felt happy when I was working before, during and after a family festivity while everyone else enjoyed himself or herself. My family tradition has evolved to everyone cooking large family feasts on holidays. Because I made cooking a festive joint endeavor over the years, the meal planning, grocery shopping and cooking have all become shared tasks for holidays and I never feel placed in the role of worker while everyone else is relaxing and socializing. It has become something we all look forward to and everyone adds his or her own flair to the mix.

With a little creativity, you can turn every holiday into rich traditions that serve and honor your soul. What do you love to do and how might you incorporate it into your holiday routine?

Instilling new traditions takes a little time; and there is no time but today to start one!