Christmas is a time of year that is steeped in tradition for many of us. While those traditions may vary widely, I’m a firm believer that tradition is what sets holidays apart in our memories. I could tell you almost exactly what I ate on Christmas Eve for the first eighteen years of my life. Two years ago we decided as a family that we weren’t going to travel on Christmas anymore. Our girls were old enough that they started asking when they were going to get to celebrate Christmas at home, so we decided it was time to honor that request. J and I have tried to meld our respective traditions and craft holiday traditions that will be meaningful and memorable for our girls. Since he’s from a Polish/German Wisconsin family and I’m from a Southern Gulf Coast family, the traditions we pass on to A, B and K will be different than the ones we remember. But this year will perhaps stand out for all of us… because it has completely lacked tradition at every turn.
There are several Christmas traditions we’ve bypassed this year:
· Birthday Party - My birthday is in December and we normally have a bi-annual birthday party for me because I love this time of year AND love parties! This would have been our third party in six years of this type, but with The Nutcracker’s opening falling on the weekend this normally would have occurred, this tradition was postponed for a year.
· Cookie Party – Since 2003, the girls and I have had a cookie party each Christmas season. This started after A was invited to a cookie party in 2002 and enjoyed it so much that we decided to hold one each year. This tradition has taken different forms each year. One year we invited family friends to join us, another year ballet friends and last year, we invited students at Rejoice to decorate cookies with us at Edgefield, where classes are held. This tradition wasn’t skipped entirely this year. Instead, we had family from Alabama and family from Wisconsin join us as we decorate sugar cookies, gingerbread and oatmeal Christmas Trees, Snowmen, Wreaths, Stars and Candy Canes.
· Christmas Eve – Christmas Eve was always the time my aunts, uncles and cousins gathered at my grandmother’s house, so it has always been the main event for me. We would go to church for communion before having gumbo, biscuits and Christmas cookies at Granny’s house. Granny passed away a few years ago, but part of the tradition J and I have crafted is to have tortilla soup and Christmas cookies on Christmas Eve after attending our church. All of this tradition was skipped this year as we left on Christmas Eve afternoon to start our trek to Disney World. Santa came to visit our family on the 23rd and we opened the remaining gifts before climbing into the van and buckling up for the ride to our Atlanta hotel. Because we were anxious to get on the road and we couldn’t find a Christmas Eve service with childcare for K, we opted instead to read Isaiah 53 and Luke 2 together as a family and sing a few Christmas Carols. While we didn’t sound as beautiful as a congregation raising its voices together, it was nice to share scriptures that are meaningful to us and talk with our children about them instead of trying to keep them still for an hour long service.
· Christmas Day – Instead of waking up to a breakfast casserole or homemade cinnamon rolls, we had a continental breakfast at the Hilton and got back into the van, still heading south. Christmas Day has traditionally been a day of relaxation for our family. After opening presents, we generally just spend the day hanging out together. I wouldn’t really describe the eight hour drive to Orlando as relaxing, but I am hopeful that seeing our daughters at Disney World will make it worth it!
All of this lack of tradition has served its own type of purpose. We’ve made it through as a family and still managed to celebrate Christ’s birth, albeit in a different way than we have in years past. One of the reasons our traditions have changed is we have been blessed to have family join us from hours away to see A dance in The Nutcracker. It was affirming to A and encouraging to J and me to see family members happily drive 6-10 hours to see our little black lamb on stage. It was also good for me to sacrifice my love of Christmas traditions for the sanity of our family. Ultimately, I could have chosen to maintain these traditions, even if we were all exhausted from months of Nutcracker rehearsals, preparing for family, hosting guests and packing to depart for Disney World. Instead, I tried to go with the flow and enjoy this Christmas for what it was. When tradition becomes the master and I become a slave to it, that’s no longer celebration. I will confess that it was difficult at times to forgo traditions that mean a lot to me, but I hope that memories of The Nutcracker and Disney World will be held in our hearts in the place marked Christmas 2008.
No comments:
Post a Comment