With Halloween over, it is now on to Christmas, at least if you are in the retail world. I thought I would slow down the holidays a bit and reflect on Thanksgiving. A few years ago I posted one item a day on Facebook I was thankful for and I think I will recreate that here. It will be interesting (at least to me) to see if the list remains the same.

Today I’m thankful for traditions. Traditions become the string that binds generations of families and friends. When you realize something has become a tradition, it is usually when you don’t do it and someone complains.  It’s actually kind of nice. Wow,” I will think to myself, “all these years of busting my ass to do X, and they actually noticed”

Today, we are celebrating Matthew’s birthday. For birthdays, one of our traditions is to get themed plates for cake.   Everyone, every age,  gets themed plates. Matthew’s plates tonight are the Power Rangers. No real reason except when I saw them today I remembered how he liked that show as a kid. Kathryn was mad he broke his own tradition of wanting a chocolate cake with chocolate frosting and instead asked for a caramel apple pie. This may be a new tradition for him.

Last week, I was talking with my sister about her plans for Thanksgiving and we were discussing menus. Menu planning is when you really see how foods play such a big role in traditions.  God forbid you change up a holiday menu. You can add items, but not take them away.

In our house, Thanksgiving has a few traditions. First, Jonathan will call and ask if we are going to have a dry turkey again this year. Emphasis on again. I can honestly say, I do not remember ever having a dry or bad turkey here so I take this as a joke although he seems to believe it is rooted in truth. As my sister said when we were talking about this – “That’s what gravy is for.”

Another tradition involves me. About two days before Thanksgiving, I will ask my sister for a cranberry apple dish recipe that she makes and that I’ve adopted. I think last year was the first time in 15 years, I haven’t asked for it. I finally saved the recipe but there’s no guarantee I will find it again this year.

Christmas has its own set of traditions. First it begins with getting the tree. We shop for one on Thursday night. Then it is the putting on of the ornaments and laughing at the ones the kids made throughout the years.  My favorite tradition is putting up the nativity set that we have. It’s the one we used when I was a kid. Not only is it just beautiful on its own, there’s somehow an unspoken contest to see who gets to put the angel on it. I remember arguing with my sister about who got to do this. Nothing says Christmas like arguing over the nativity set. And as an adult, I have to be nice and let the kids put it on if they want, but secretly I still want to do it.

The beauty about traditions is that they change as we do. Circumstances might force us to create new traditions but there’s always something left from a previous one. That’s what I love about traditions – these rituals take the best of the old and reinvent themselves into the new. I love the way traditions remind us of how the small things mean so much.