Monthly Archives: November 2011
Tradition
As I have mentioned before I am a stickler for tradition. Thanksgiving and Christmas are full of wonderful family traditions. One that I invented shortly after my first daughter was born is our Christmas card tradition. We put our Christmas cards with pictures and letters in the mail the day before Thanksgiving every year. This ensures that our card arrives the day after Thanksgiving. For our family, this is the official start of the Christmas season. We don’t decorate or listen to Christmas music before Thanksgiving, but the day after… look out!
This year I fell a little behind in planning the Christmas card. My grandmother passed away about a month ago and then I think time stood still. It wasn’t until a couple of days ago that I realized how quickly Thanksgiving was approaching. I mentioned this to a friend at church and he said, “So, do you have your picture yet?” That’s when panic set in. No! I did not have my picture yet! Nothing about the Christmas card was planned and I needed to allow for processing, shipping, stuffing, and addressing the cards. So, the internal dilemma began. Of course people would understand that I have had a difficult month and there is no reason that my cards need to arrive the day after Thanksgiving. Or is there? Somehow, the death of such a close relative just makes family traditions that much more important. So, Tuesday I got on the computer and ordered my cards. I received my e-mail yesterday that the order has been shipped and I am back on track.
After all, what’s Thanksgiving without turkey? The day after without my Christmas card? A family without tradition? Call me crazy or call me old-fashioned, but the fiddler on the roof had it right. Tradition!