A Family Tradtion #1

Collecting shells on the beach is a tradition children remember forever.

25 years ago Topsy, my cousin’s grandmother, would walk along the beach in front of their family beach house at South Golden Beach with my cousins and they would collect shells. Topsy has since passed away however, when the family sold the beach house, my cousin Ben kept some of the shells they had collected over the years. They now sit in a bowl on his coffee table in his beach house which he recently built 2 streets away from his grandparents old beach house.  I am sure everytime he and his brothers look at those shells, they are reminded of those special times with their grandmother on South Golden Beach.  Ben will no doubt continue this shell collecting tradition with his own children one day. 

I have photographed the shells as above.

A Family Tradition

I believe in Tradition. I believe in following the thoughts and actions passed down to me from the older generations in my family. I live my life based on the things my family has taught me and I hope my boys will inherit this same way of life.

Over the holidays I've had so much spare time to think about what is most important in my life and every time it comes back to my family and the way we live and have lived since I was a little girl.

So, this year I am going to talk more about tradition here on ABT. I am going to post a series called A Family Tradition. I hope it inspires you to think about the traditions and beliefs your family has instilled in you and maybe, if those traditions have been forgotten about, you might be encouraged to re-instate them.  Or maybe you might be inspired to establish some new tradtions for your family to embrace.

Memories & Family Traditions

Interior Designer Sister Parish once said...

"Even the simplest wicker basket can become priceless when it is loved and cared for through the generations of a family."

As well as being a fashionable accessory to carry to the beach, a basket can be very useful as decoration in a beach house as shown above & below.

Brisbane Artist Claire Stening's painting of a wicker basket.

This is such a simple yet beautiful tradition to begin. I know one day I will have a barrage of wicker baskets to love which my mother has collected over the years. Ever since I can remember, she has carted her goods and chattels, groceries and clothing to and from our family beach house in wicker baskets - big and small, much to my fathers annoyance. He always insisted that they were such a pain to pack in the car.

Always finding an excuse to use a basket my mother {during our childhood} was often seen traipsing down to the beach from the house with the three of us in tow, a beach umbrella under one arm and a wicker basket over the other arm filled with sunscreen, magazines, buckets and spades, towels, hats, drinks and enough spare change for when the ice cream man turned up.

The life-long obsession my mother has had with baskets has rubbed off on me. Gosh, I hope Harry will be prepared for all the wicker baskets he will inherit one day...

Image 1 - Elle Decor, Image 2 - Toast, Image 3 - Clair Stening