Keeping Traditions

I don’t know about you, but I love Christmas traditions. For the most part. When they make sense. Do you know what I mean? Do you have Christmas traditions that you do every year? Do all of them make sense?

One tradition that we keep every year is decorating our house, usually sometime around Thanksgiving…this year it was two weeks before. We started years ago putting up the tree while having the movie White Christmas on as we decorated. When my boy arrived we added in the Polar Express after White Christmas, because we got more in the spirit and put up more decorations. It is a tradition I look forward to every year, because we make our home beautiful…with comfortable favorites playing on the TV.

Another tradition that we love is celebrating Christmas with some of our closest family friends. We started this several years ago where our two families get together every year to celebrate Christmas. When we all lived in same town, we celebrated for one long evening. Now that we live in different states, we all get together and we celebrate over one long weekend. That weekend just concluded. It was full of laughter, conversation, presents, mulled wine, Christmas Vacation, good food, memory making and so much more. It was so good to be with friends who are closer than family. This is a tradition I love.

What about traditions that have run their course? Our traditions supposed to last forever just because?What does Tradition mean?

Here is what I found:

Tradition – a custom or belief that has been passed on. A custom or widely accepted way of behaving or doing something that is specific to a society, place, or time.

Something that is specific to a society, place, or time. To me that means that some traditions are obviously passed on and observed for long periods. Others are only good for a specific amount of time. They are good until they run their course.

I used to go shopping on Black Friday. There was a lot of fun and deals to be had by going out early the morning after Thanksgiving. Then it became something that I no longer enjoyed. The store gimmicks got to be over the top and the crowds were a little crazy. I had planned to share it with my boy when he got old enough, but it changed. So, I pivoted. Black Friday was something I wanted to keep as a yearly thing, but it ran its course.

Marixa and I used to enjoy going to the mall on Christmas Eve every year. We would usually go get lunch, shop around a bit, and sit and people watch. It was always interesting to see families out enjoying the time with each other. You would also see the random frantic shoppers who apparently forgot that Christmas was on December 25th again and were cramming in all their shopping. This was a time that she and I enjoyed together, just soaking it all in. It was a good tradition. It fell to the wayside several years ago as it was crammed out by other things. We enjoyed it for the time.

To me, traditions are intended to keep us looking forward to being together. We do them to enjoy the season, enjoy each other, and to remember what is important. If there are traditions you keep that don’t fit those categories, maybe it is time to re-examine them.

I witnessed wonderful example this weekend of a good tradition in practice. The time brought good friends together to enjoy each other, to celebrate our friendships, and to joy in the season. In the words of Cousin Eddie…it was real nice Clark.