ABSTRACT
Since 1963 Cochran family descendants and extended family have participated in a pre-holiday family tradition. An invented tradition, the Cochran Go-Around, is celebrated each year on December 23. Participants gather at one family residence for home-made soups and sandwiches and then travel to two other homes to view holiday decorations. At the final home participants sing Christmas carols, watch intergenerational performances, hear Luke’s Christmas Story from a 1922 family Bible, and enjoy cookies and hot chocolate. A questionnaire among family members was distributed to learn why participants consider the event so special, determine their thoughts on how it has endured over 58 years, and assess what meaning the Go-Around conveys for them. Major themes were identified, including feelings of joy and pride in belonging to a larger tribe, reconnecting and appreciating the gift of extended family, and sharing the meaning of Christmas beyond the nuclear family, especially with younger generations. Nurturing family culture through the Cochran Go-Around, while acknowledging the importance of kin keepers and place attachment by generation, all supports the literature on familial connection and helps sustain this invented tradition that has survived the test of time, and a pandemic.
