Tuesday, December 2, 2008

Tra-DISH-Un

I have always been a little put out by the whole idea of tradition for tradition's sake. But some tradition, I think, can be really good. Holidays seem to always be a time replete with traditions, at least in many families. My family always had certain traditions at Christmastime when I was young, but as I grew up, many of those have sadly gone by the wayside. As a matter of fact, I'm not sure there are any that have stood the test of time. Busyness and hectic schedules seem to be the primary enemies of those old traditions. What's more, I'm not sure Rex and I have ever established any of our own traditions for Christmas since we've been married. Every year brings something different and it's hard to make traditions stick when your plans are constantly in flux. Now that we have a child, I want that to be different. I want to have some special traditions that we share. I'm not sure yet exactly what they all will be, or how they will play out, but I am determined that we will have them.

We bought Nathan the Fisher Price Nativity this year, and gave it to him this past weekend. I wanted him to have a Christmas toy that he could play with, especially since there are so many other Christmas decorations that he can't play with. I chose the nativity because I want to use it to tell the story of Christmas--of the baby Jesus who was born that blessed night and brought light and hope to the world. I want the history to come to life for my young son and the truth of it to grow and deepen in the coming years as he hears it told again and again. He'll have visual and tactile learning as he also hears the Scriptures being read from Luke 2. And one day when he's older, I want him to be able to use the nativity to tell the story. That's one of the traditions I plan to begin with our family.

On a lighter note, Rex and I have also decided that each year we will take Nathan to the store and let him pick out a Christmas ornament of his choice. This year I actually picked one out for him--it's a miniature Tigger-in-the-Box, and Tigger actually pops out when you turn the crank. It's adorable. But next year, we'll let Nathan choose his own ornament and hang it on the tree. This is a fun way to make Christmas memories to enjoy every year, and also build Nathan's own ornament collection.

My brother and his wife were unable to come for Christmas last year, but they are definitely coming this year. We are so excited. One of the things that my brother wanted to do when they come is to celebrate some of our old family traditions. We used to always have our family Christmas on Christmas Eve. First, we'd all dress up and go to the Christmas Eve service at our church, which was always beautiful. On the way home, we'd take the scenic route and look at Christmas lights. Once we got home, we'd take some pictures in front of the Christmas tree, eat snacky-type foods and then sit around the tree and open our gifts to each other. Afterward, we always drank Braum's egg nog. So this year, in remembrance of our old traditions, we are going to try and do all those things on Christmas Eve. I imagine it will be very nostalgic, even though it will also be very different.

I'm looking for new and creative ideas for meaningful Christmas traditions and would love to hear what kinds of special things that others do for the holidays. Please share!

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