Traditions

Christmas, more than any other time of the year, gets me thinking about family traditions. When you live with pretty much all your extended family nearby, you have a lot of traditions already in place. Still, I want my own little family to have their own. One that we have done for 2 years now is decorating the tree for family night. We dim all the lights except for the tree lights and candles and play quiet music in the background. I sort the ornaments each year so that I have my box and each of the kids have theirs (my Grandma Merkley gives her grandkids an ornament each year, and now my mom does the same for my kids). This year we started our night with Warren accompanying us on the piano for "Silent Night" and then we read a book about Christmas symbols, "I Believe in Santa Claus." I love the parallels this book makes between Santa and Christ. Then we had a really short lesson about symbols as each person lit their candle from a central candle, like receiving the light of Christ. Then we got each ornament out and talked briefly about it as they child hung it on the tree. The kids loved seeing their "first" ornament as well as my kindergarten ornament--we let Warren hang that one--and the trolley car that Andy and I bought on our honeymoon in San Francisco. I give all credit for success to Andy who kept Avery engaged (quietly) on the rug, ad intermittently carried her over to hang an ornament. Afterwards, we had hot chocolate and chocolate cake on my china and the kids thought that was really special. Since the only other Christmas song Warren can play is "Jingle Bells," we ended with that.
We had such a good time decorating our tree that the kids told our neighbor, and he decided he would get out his tree this year. He invited us over to decorate it. So last night after dinner, we all went over and hung his ornaments, had cider and cocoa, ate yummy apple crisp he made for us (this is a guy who told me he's only made cookies twice in his life of 52 years) and played on his furniture--well, the kids did that. Andy and I were well-mannered :)
Another tradition we made our own this year was attending Westwood High School's "Canticle in Carols". I sang in this in HS, I conducted at it when I student taught and now I took my two oldest children to it. And, they did really well. Abigail can hardly sit still when there is music on, but she sat just in front of her seat, rocking along with the beat and periodically singing along. I loved hearing the same songs I sang, the ones I know the alto part to by heart, and then singing along on the "Hallelujah Chorus" with all the other alumni and friends of WW. There were a few new songs, but mostly old favorites. I think that describes our holiday traditions well, too. We do a lot the same, and the same-ness gives us the freedom and motivation to try a new one periodically. Maybe life is like that; home life is pretty repetitive and very much the same from day to day, but it gives the foundation for all the new and exciting things that happen in each person's life. Home is a safe place to come back to, a place where you know how and when things will be. I guess the greatest tradition is that of home, like a sign I have at the door that says, "Home is where your story begins."