Don Voss

Celebrate Family: Strategies for Creating Lasting Joy in the Home Don Voss

In "Celebrate Family" the author describes in some detail the many rituals and traditions he and his wife developed and practiced in their home while raising their family of ten. While the text loosely follows the liturgical year from Thanksgiving and Advent through Ordinary Time, it does not limit activity to strictly religious or church season themes. Many of their celebrations were secular, and some simply invented to fit only their particular family situation. They enjoyed all the same occasions for celebration that most families do, and inserted many others - just to have another party. Before beginning this book, Don created a survey that was sent to each child, all of whom are now grown to adulthood and enjoy parenting of their own families. His quest was to hear from them their feelings about how all those activities affected them as children and now as adults and parents. The book includes many of the survey responses from family members. It is those responses which lighten and brighten the text, and lend this work credibility in providing an outline or syllabus for the reader to follow in designing activities that will bring joy and closeness to their family. The book describes what can happen in families when celebrations are continued and repeated throughout the family's life so that there develops a history of traditions and rituals that are uniquely familial, and to which each member can look back to get a clear sense of who and what their family is.