Broken Traditions

As I get older, the more important traditions become to me. I love the holiday season and all the traditions it brings! From a big turkey dinner on Thanksgiving to our elf's (Shooby) crazy antics to looking at Christmas lights to a Christmas Eve service to E's birthday celebration to lighting fireworks on New Years Eve. It's all so special to me and holds memories that are near and dear to me. But this year was different. Maybe it's because Thanksgiving was so late in the year. Maybe it was because Rob, E and I were all sick at some point between Thanksgiving and now. Maybe it's because I let go of being a control freak so I could just enjoy the memories we did create.
This year Thanksgiving was not a traditional turkey feast like I'm used to. We had shish kabobs and side dishes in miss matched dishes. We had a store bought dessert instead of my homemade peach cobbler. We never once went and looked at Christmas lights. I don't ever remember not looking at Christmas lights! But every time I suggested it, the boys shot it down, saying they didn't want to look at lights. We didn't candy cane bomb cars, which was one of our favorite things from last year, that we decided would become a new tradition. I baked Santa's cookies by myself and I did feel a little like the Little Red Hen because everyone swooped in AFTER the cookies came out of the oven to eat them.
This year I did find out the traditions that were important to the boys. They wanted to play a family game of football on Thanksgiving day. They couldn't wait to open 1 gift on Christmas Eve. They loved reading "Twas the Night Before Christmas" and "Cajun Night Before Christmas" and the Birth of Jesus in the gospel of Luke before bed on Christmas Eve. They couldn't wait to see what Santa brought them in their stockings and they impatiently reminded me that we needed to do the German pickle after our Christmas meal.
The day after Christmas, P climbed into bed with me after Rob left for work and said, "Mom, yesterday was one of the best Christmases. It was nice to spend the day as a family." To him, that was the most important part of Christmas. It wasn't how well Rob timed passing out gifts at o'dark thirty Christmas morning. It wasn't about the variety of side dishes and the homemade peach cobbler for Christmas dinner. It wasn't about all the gifts he got that he enjoyed playing with. It was about spending time as a family. He also loved having one of Rob's co-workers join us for lunch because the guy doesn't have any family in town. P talked about having him here a lot.
That's the stuff I want them to remember when they are older. The traditions are important but the quality time as a family is even more important! This year, after stressing so much a few days before Christmas, it was important to me to savor the special moments. Instead of capturing the moments on my camera, I captured them in my heart. I don't have a lot of pictures from Christmas this year but I sure have a lot of precious memories! Just the way it should be....