Traditions | Old & New

I have to chuckle a little when I hear the word tradition, so I'm thinking I should share why.  We were living in Ft. Leavenworth, KS--a lovely town, by the way--where our Sam was in preschool at St. Paul's. It must have been just before the holiday season as they were discussing family traditions in class.  When I picked him up from school one afternoon, his teacher asked if I could hang around for a bit.  Oh dear, what on earth has he done is surely what I was thinking at the time.  Anyway, she explained that they were sharing their family traditions for the holidays and that Sam had said ours was to 'clean the house and light smelly candles when people came to visit'.  HA!!  Mrs. B thought I might get a kick out of hearing his response, the teachers thought it was hilarious.  Most kids had said they go to Grandma's, have a turkey dinner, open one present Christmas Eve, etc.  Not Sam.  He had considered our protocol when having company, any time of year, as our family tradition.  I suppose he's right, as it's probably the one thing we consistently do to this day.  As my mother-in-law would say, 'out of the mouths of babes'!

So, what are our traditions?  Over the years they've varied greatly, mostly depending on where we live at the time.  For years, soon after we married, we lived in Germany and our tradition was to spend the holidays at home as it was too expensive to travel overseas.  There was always space-available travel, but we had no desire to potentially be stuck in airports with little ones the entire time, still worlds away from family with no guarantee of ever arriving at the destination.  UGH!!!  We loved our Christmas' in Europe though, so much so that I often catch myself wishing we could go back.

On Christmas Eve Gregg makes his signature chili--no recipe, just a lot of this and that--and we attend a candlelight church service wherever we are.  Then, we spend the rest of the night wrapping the last-minute gifts before falling asleep with tape in our hair.  We're awoken in the morning by the smell of coffee--brewed using the timer setting, learned that from experience--and at least two of the kids pleading with us to get up, Santa has come.  Stockings are opened first, then a break to put the pigs-in-a-blanket in the oven, finishing with presents one person at a time.  Our Christmas dinner also varies based on location.  If we're close enough to drive, we share the meal with family and exchange gifts after.  If not, we keep our meal very basic--ham, potatoes, something green and dessert.

Puzzles.  I think this is something we do no matter where we are.  We call it the 'Christmas puzzle', and I will stay up all night to finish once it's been poured on the table.  If I do happen to go to bed before it's done, you can bet I won't leave the house we're visiting until it's complete.  And if I do, then I'll be back at Spring Break to finish it up--Judy will attest to that!!

This year we changed it up a little.  To start, the boys didn't shop for each other.  Instead, they went shopping together, purchasing items for 2 children on The Giving Tree rather than spending so much on one another.  The 24th was spent much the same way, except Gregg did the grocery shopping and all the last-minute gift purchases--hallelujah!!  He also followed a new recipe for loaded baked potato soup, instead of chili.  It was fantastic!!  We went to the 11pm candlelight service at the  church I grew up in, rather than the one we attend now.  I caught up with a few friends that I haven't seen in years and my family got a glimpse at one of my childhood traditions.  The biggest difference this year, and I mean BIG, is that we got to sleep past 7am before being dog-piled awake to open presents.  It was one of those 'you know you're getting older' moments we had only dreamed of!  We've yet to do a puzzle, but the holiday isn't over so I probably shouldn't write that one off.

I don't know if the last couple of days will define how we do things next year, or the year after, but it really felt good to live in the moment and not be stuck doing something just because that's what we've always done. While I love a good tradition, I'm all about exploring new ones.  Look out 2014!!!

What are your favorite traditions?

*disclaimer--I did clean the house and light smelly candles this week for our one-and-only visitor, the jolly 'ol guy wearing his red suit.  Some traditions are hard to break!