Today Dominick and I were in Grand Junction shopping, and we carried on our Christmas tradition of buying a personalized ornament for our family tree, and just as we did when waiting for Matthew and Joshua to come home, we bought an ornament for "T". It is a train (they didn't have a plane which would have been far more appropriate!) and we had them personalize it with "About to arrive..."T" 2006. It was a bit harder to find something fitting as there were many "Baby's First Christmas" ornaments but nothing that would fit our circumstance. After being grilled by the sales lady about why we wanted such strange wording on it, why we weren't adopting from the US, why we didn't adopt from foster care like her relative did, I was about ready to ride our little choo choo right on out the door! After we got home this evening from visiting with our friends in our old Cub Scout Pack, the boys both wanted to be the one to put it on the tree so they decided to do it together. Both of them loved looking at all the ornaments when we put the tree up earlier this week, and they enjoyed asking why we got each ornament, where they were from, and who they were for.
I love traditions, and although we don't have a ton of them, there are a few we hold dear to family life. One is going for walks downtown in the winter and stopping for hot chocolate at the Coffee Trader. Another is going to the Balloon Affair over July 4th weekend and watching the balloons take flight. When I was a kid our Christmas tradition was to have Mexican food on Christmas Eve and then eat tons of the cookies and fudge we had made the week prior. I don't really know where the Mexican food came from, but I still feel something is missing when I don't have it on Christmas Eve. Another tradition we share is when the boys are tucked in bed and prayers have been said, I will crawl in with them and tell a "Matthew and Joshie" story where they are boy heroes in all kinds of strange adventures. If friends are over spending the night they get added into the story, and of course I have been reminded by both Matt and Josh that we have to include "T" now. I have a secret tradition that they know nothing about yet, and that is every Christmas I write each of them a letter on holiday paper and have put it in a binder that I will give to them when they are older. I wrote one to each of them before they ever came home, and now I will start one to "T" as well. I include in the letters how much they have grown and what new they have accomplished, the little things that we have found to be so darned cute that they have said or done, and I express my own feelings for them.
Traditions are so important, in many ways they are the glue that hold a family together. I'd love to hear from those of you who are reading this...what are your cherished traditions? Got any great ideas?
No comments:
Post a Comment