Holiday Herald: Family traditions just might include a hotel shower cap
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Why is it that traditions become so ingrained in the fabric of family life -- especially around the holidays?
Our family's holiday traditions begin with a trip north to "chop" down the Christmas tree. The tree farm we have frequented for the past 18 years (another tradition) grows on the side of a hill.
The hunt is never complete until we have ventured to the far reaches of the farm, at the bottom of the hill. That is where we locate the "perfect" tree. A few quick swipes of the saw (I am sure my husband will not agree with that description,) and the tree is freed of its moorings.
The daunting task ahead: hauling it back up the hill to the car. This year it took three of us pulling and pushing the cart and stopping for many "breaks" to make the trip. Ah ... tradition.
Once the tree assumes its rightful place in the corner of the family room, the weeks ahead speed by with a flurry of shopping, decorating, wrapping and planning. I deposit the last pile of Christmas cards (you know, the overexposed photo ones of the kids from summer vacation) in the mailbox and start to think about baking some cookies.
I ask for requests and inevitably the answers are the same: "the ones with the things inside," "the ones with the things on top," "anything peanut butter," and "whatever you make, dear." Is it too much to ask for a name? Ah ... tradition.
One Christmas Eve tradition that has evolved over the years is the annual reading of "The Night Before Christmas" after returning from church. Now that two-thirds of our children are 20-plus, this retelling has taken on a new dimension.
Dad sits in the recliner poised to read, and our son (always looking to entertain) begins HIS tradition -- pantomiming the story. Imagine a 6'2", gainfully employed college graduate enacting this story page by page complete with Santa's every move and animated rooftop clatter, and you will have a sense of what this is like. It is losing a bit of the humorous impact it had the first time he did it at a much younger age. Ah ... tradition.
Imagine also, three large bodies sitting at the top of the steps on Christmas morning waiting for Mom and Dad to turn on the tree lights, start a fire and get the video camera rolling. The only change over the years has been the reversal of who wakes up whom -- now we have to wake them up!
First Published December 21, 2010 12:15 am
