Jacob's class is talking about traditions this week in school. His teacher gave us an assignment to bring something in to show the class our holiday traditions. We were stumped. We don't really have any "traditions".
Growing up we always traveled to Louisiana to spend the holidays with my Grandparents. We moved around every 3-4 years so going to Louisiana was something constant. Something comfortable. A tradition. When I was in high school my Dad was always "on duty" at the plant so my Grandparents traveled to us. Our tradition changed.
Tod's family always had a routine of going to Grandma Owens' house on Christmas Eve then to Midnight Mass. On Christmas they had a family Christmas at home then off to Grandma O'Donnell's house for the rest of Christmas day festivities.
Since we have started our family every Christmas has been different. We alternate Christmases between my family and Tod's. We have celebrated Christmas in Kentucky, Florida, North Carolina, and South Carolina. We have had our Christmas in happy places and in sad places. We have even celebrated Christmas as late as January 21st. One Christmas we didn't even have a tree. (Well, we decorated our ficus...doesn't count!)
There are some traditions in our families that I hope will last for many generations. My Dad always fixes a huge batch of fudge. He even makes an extra batch without pecans for me. Tod's Mom always buys us all new pajamas to wear every Christmas Eve. We all look great for our Christmas morning pictures! My Dad also makes many pans of party mix. Sometimes it is super spicy...the way we all like it. He started making some "not so spicy" for the kids. Tod's Grandma Owens makes the best Christmas cookies and coffee cake. Yum! My Mom cooks up a HUGE pot of crawfish gumbo every year. We FEAST and there are not many leftovers.
Jacob said that he is going to tell his class that our tradition is that we do things different each year. I guess it doesn't matter where or when you spend your holidays, but who you spend them with. This is why I have chosen Fudge, Party Mix, and Gumbo as my new blog title. What a great tradition we have!
5 comments:
You hit the nail on the head. It doesn't matter so much about the traditions; it matters that you're all together. :-)
great post kat! i agree... no two christmases have been the same for our family either, but it doesn't make them any less special!
We have the same assignment for Andrew and I was stumped as well until my mom started listing things we do every year. I guess I just never recognized them as traditions. (And this is funny, we decorated our ficus tree one year too instead of buying a tree) ;)
Those are yummy traditions! We're glad we're incorporated in some of those traditions!! ;)
What I am impressed with is how children adapt to changes in celebrations and value just being together. Traditions like you spoke of, Kat are indeed important and while we are all spread out, we manage to hang on to just enough of them to keep it real. Having Mom back with us this year is a return to the very best of traditions for me. Loved this post!
Post a Comment