 |
| {Max, Marky, Che, Boo and Will - all skating on the "Pond" today} |
 |
| {It was actually a flooded tennis court located at Promontory Point} |
 |
| {They just opened it yesterday and it was a perfect afternoon for pond hockey} |
Traditions. They’re the customs that bind us together as families, and no time is as traditioncentric as Christmas. It’s hard to complain about them without sounding like Scrooge’s evil sister. But good gosh, some traditions are making me feel like a hamster on a holly-trimmed wheel.
I admit I’m not a planner and having to do things a certain way at a certain time of year makes me a little antsy and claustrophobic. Of course, nobody loves traditions as much as children, so I really don’t have much of a choice after about December 1st. Onto the list go the gingerbread houses, the advent calendars, the nights in front of the Christmas tree. I like these things, I really do. It’s just the thought that they must happen. There is no flexibility. Some years I try to streamline, to simplify. “I’ll just do the important things this year", I say to myself. And then I’ll end up at a meeting where everyone discusses their favorite Christmas traditions and I’m left feeling like the most non-festive, bah-humbuggy woman ever born.
Once in a while, though, we’re brave and we dare; we throw out a tradition that isn’t so dear to our hearts. A few days ago I read on my friend Stephanie's facebook post, “First Christmas tree in 11 years.” How liberating. But that’s just one that she chose. Not one she was forced into like the Christmas Pickle.
I don’t really want to get rid of most of our traditions. A lot of them are lovely and create happy memories. I hope that pond hockey is one of the new traditions. Maybe I just don’t want them to be so iron-clad. Maybe it would be nice to skip them every once in a while. Hopefully my boys will be flexible enough to realize that traditions are a nice bonus, but they’re not what Christmas is all about. One day they will have their first holiday with a spouse. Let’s just hope it’s focused more on love and Christ and not whether it’s weird to serve Crab Dip on Christmas Eve. Because that tradition is staying. :)
