New Traditions

Around the holidays I really enjoy thinking back to traditions that my family had. While we usually referred to these traditions as FFF: Forced Family Fun (as we became teenagers, we thought of some other words to describe this), looking back I am so glad to have these memories to look back on, even though at the time we all were probably less than enthusiastic.

Some of my favorite childhood holiday memories are my family making fudge (and eating it until I made myself sick) and setting beer and cookies out for Santa (Mom said that Santa got milk at every other house and the beer was a good change of pace). For a few years, each of us kids made gingerbread houses. I don't know what my mom was thinking, but we had so much fun (and a huge mess by the end of it!). One year, my gingerbread house didn't quite make it through the night. My mom knew I would be devastated. I remember waking up and going downstairs and seeing a paper on the bar where I would eat my breakfast. The paper was made to look like a newspaper article. The article said that a terrible tornado went through the gingerbread village and my house didn't make it and that I would be staying at my sister Jill's gingerbread house. To help make the gingerbread tragedy a little better, we got to eat my gingerbread house for breakfast.

I also remember getting one present to open up on Christmas Eve. It was usually a new pair of pajamas, no doubt so we would look presentable for those Christmas morning pictures.

So, I'm thinking about what sort of traditions I would like my family to start... Any suggestions?