In my home, we love a good tradition, particularly when it involves each member of the family and spans the generations. I find it’s always the simplest of things that provide happiness and connection, even if they can be a bit odd.
My family is not typical, as our ages, from oldest to youngest step down in lots of 12-14 years. For example, there’s 12 years between my mother and my husband. 14 years between my husband and me. 13 years between me and my stepson. There’s about that much again between my stepdaughter and son. There’s 13 years between my daughter and our youngest grandchild. All this makes for some fantastic cross-generational discussions, debates and divergent views on society and our place within it. Happy days. Just yesterday we discovered a truly funky tradition that spans four generations of the family. It involves a goofy dog and being scared witless. Stay with me on this….
Last night at dinner I asked my two teenagers, “What’s the scariest thing you’ve ever seen, either real or imagined?” Both of them instantly and unanimously replied, “the vampire episode of Scooby Doo. He was so spooky!” You can watch the episode at the end of this post.
The very first Scooby Doo cartooned aired in 1969 when I was just four years old and from then I loved every single episode. I remember very clearly the vampire episode (it scared the tripe out of me too) and also the swamp/tar monster, the weird clown and the electricity monster. I would snort with laughter at the hapless and permanently starving Shaggy and Scooby and vacillate between wanting to be just like Velma or Daphne (I also felt like this about Maryann and Ginger). I also had my very own Mystery Machine.
As young children, my teenagers were addicted to Scooby. The television seemed to be permanently tuned to the Boomerang channel. Now 13 and 14, they’ll still happily watch old episodes. They’ve seen both the movies and one of them still has a few Scooby comic books stuffed at the top of their bookcase.
So how do I get four generations? Well, I watched the show (which probably means my mother did too). My stepchildren watched the show, which, ipso facto means my husband, did. And now, our grandchildren are also Scooby addicts.
I think it’s hilarious that one little cartoon has had such an impact on our family and love that it will always be such a happy memory-maker for us all. Who knows, maybe the great-grandchildren will also grow up loving a goofy dog too…
And now I discover that the team at Life Like Touring are bringing the Scooby Doo Live Musical to Australia. This has created much excitement in my home. I know ~ it’s just the way we roll.
Better still they’ve given me 4 family passes to giveaway. You can take a look at it here. Then, simply tell me about your favourite family tradition leaving a comment either on my social media network or better still, this post… THIS OFFER HAS NOW CLOSED. WINNERS HAVE BEEN CHOSEN AND WILL BE NOTIFIED SHORTLY.
Be quick though, the offer closes on 27 June with the first show kicking off in Melbourne on 9 July. The first four people to leave a quirky comment about tradition will get the tix.
Oh and as promised, here’s the totally spooky Scooby Doo vampire episode.
Until next time…
Caro
Our weird family tradition is the ‘boogum’! My grandmother used to chase my father, and later my sister and I around the house with her arms in the air (hands drooping) and her bottom teeth poking scarily over her top lip, chanting “I am the boogum”
My son now does the boogum face too! Although I’ve had to reinvent it from being a scary, ghostlike creature into being one that can beat whatever other scary thoughts he has.
Best with a photo…. But I don’t know how to post!
Taco night whenever dad’s away. My kids love tacos, I love tacos (so tasty and minimal cooking time). My husband hates tacos. So whenever he is away overnight we eat tacos. It turns a negative (dads not home) into a positive (yum, tacos)!
One of my favourite family traditions was ‘camping’ under the trampoline during summer… we would sleep there overnight with my parents, make a campfire and even cook pancakes over the fire in the morning!! It felt so magical, even just in the backyard!
Our only multi-generational tradition is in the naming of pet dogs. My grandmother had Judy. My Mum had Jedda. I had Jeni as a child, and now my children have Jenie. See the pattern? We were lucky with Jenie – we adopted an adult dog, whose name was Genie. A swift change of spelling fixed that!
Love that Bronwyn! x
My family tradition for years was literally watching Scooby Doo on TV before bed at night. 8 o’clock on cartoon network Scooby came on and as soon as it finished my brother and I knew it was time for bed. My mum often made cookies in the shape of bones and called them Scooby snacks too. I will never forget it. Then if we didn’t want to go to bed mum would change the channel and put the x-files on. To this day the theme song for the x-files still gives me the creeps! Ahhh memories….
The Xfiles scared me too Jaime!
To add to my above comment, my daughter who is now 2 has to choose and watch a DVD show of Scooby Doo every night before bed too. The love of Scooby Doo just runs in the family haha
We only have one family tradition and it is at Easter time. Back when i was a child we would make an Easter nest out of mowed lawn clippings in the garden and the next morning we would find our chocolate surprises Easter bunny had left. With my own children i have adapted it to rolled up towel nests in the loungeroom ( we have dogs). My eldest is almost 21 years old ( i have been doing this for that long ! haha) and she still insists on the towel nests every year…. it holds special memories for her 😀
I LOVE this Deanna!
OMG that vampire guy is totally freaky!
It’s a tradition in our house to play very serious games of hide and seek, and we once freaked out my then 6 year old when we all hid so well he couldn’t find us and he thought we’d abandoned him! LOL
Our family tradition is making chocolates at Christmas time for the family! My mum and I had done it for years as I was growing up and now we have my nieces starting the traditional chocolate making! Many of those chocolates also included making many MANY SCOOBY DOO chocolates!! Also another traditional family treat is sitting down and watching re runs of Scooby episodes over and over again! I may be older now but nothing beats memories! (What am I saying I still watch Scooby Doo each day)
Can I come to your place at Christmas please? 😉
We started one a couple of years ago, my 2yr old sang “Day of the Diesels” (Thomas the Tank) all of Christmas Day, my husband changed it to “Day of the cheezels” and now whenever we have cheezels, someone sings it, even the extended family.
(Said sone has just discovered Scooby, and watches the opening credits with great delight).
That’s hilarious Emma!
Hi caro, just wanted to say how much I loved Scooby Doo as a child… and I’ve loved that my own kids can watch it too. They are not as mad on it as my sisters and brother and I were but then they have a great deal more choice on offer… not always a good thing. Traditions are good in families… so why am I scratching my head to think of one!?? Need coffee!