Traditions

Who doesn't love a good Holiday tradition? Somehow they just sort of grow on us don't they? I've always gotten a laugh every year as the boys decorated our Christmas tree. Every year we've been able to track their growth by the band of decorations that appeared spontaneously. Years ago, we had a very bottom heavy tree as the boys were only 3 or 4 feet tall. A couple more years and the strip of decorations moved up a little bit at a time as they grew.

Look at them now...reaching almost to the top!
And that, is another tradition. As the Dad of the house, or at least because for a couple of more years at least, (months more likely.) I am the tallest in the house and have the honor of placing this beauty on the tree. I say beauty in the most sarcastic tone available to the writen word, but truth be told...she's grown on me.
A~'s had this angel since she was a littl girl and it made it's way to our family. It's part of the tradition, the things that are constant from year to year. The things we look forward to.
And when we speak of looking forward to things, can you say Christmas cookies??? Oh yeah...I can! These are one of those special, delicate, tasty treats that I only get for the holidays. Just once a year. I mean we own the iron that makes them, and the recipe is pretty simple from what I've seen, but still only once a year. And THAT is what makes them soooo special. And of course more than anything else, time. We try to not wait until the holidays to make it a point to spend time together, but we all know how easy it can be to let life sneak up on us. What better excuse can you think of to spend time together in the cold, with hot chocolate and a camera than lights and Christmas displays.

A neighboring town has this beautiful display that, although we haven't made it there in a couple of years, we all really enjoyed it and will be coming back again for sure.
So there you go, a peek into our traditions, at least a couple of them. They do seem to sneak up and cling to us, and in doing so somehow help to define us. They are what we remember, what our kids will look back to as they define their own traditions in the future, and what we'll get to pass on to our grandkids one day. But those things are a ways down the road, for now, I think I'll just take another look at that middle heavy tree, snack on a cookie and have a great Christmas 2008. I hope you do too!

Being that it's going to be a busy season for everyone, us included, I thought I'd give you the heads up that I may be a bit sporadic through the rest of the month. I have a lot of projects and such that I need to wrap up before the new year, and there's only so many hours. All the best, till next time.
P~