Christmas Traditions
I received an unexpected and beautiful Christmas letter from my daughter across the country. The words that struck me the most were about her family tradition memories growing up.
Some of the delicious cookies we used to make included a German recipe passed down from my Mom. Two cookies pressed together, held together by a thin layer of cherry jam and topped off with homemade frosting. It was a torturous process that I always dreaded, but because the end result was too delicious, I endured the work. But in all honesty, the memories it brought back of my childhood in Germany and my childhood home were equally important.
One tradition that I created was to go on evening drives in random neighborhoods to find the prettiest light spectacles to take in. The kids sitting in the backseat, chattering, laughing, and Christmas music playing on the radio. It felt good to be together and experience such simple joys as a family.
Little did I realize until I read her letter that she now creates these memories for her own family of 4. It fills my heart with happiness.
The letter. Yet another tradition. When my children were younger, it was important to me to make Christmas more than just another holiday to buy gifts. I wanted it to be an expression of love, gratitude, and giving of another kind. Each year, I would silence myself to put down on paper, one for each child, how I felt about the year coming to an end. Sharing memories and thoughts of how each had matured, becoming their unique humans, and making sure to point out these discoveries on paper. All of this in hopes that by reading their letters, they would hear just how special they were.
But then there are other seemingly insignificant things that come to light in conversations with my children as well.
When talking to them via video call, we never hang up before sharing the “heart symbol.” You know, you form it with your hand curled to the shape of half a heart, then point toward each other to complete the heart shape? It's a thing. It's what we do while saying our “I love you's” before hanging up. Little did I know that my grandchildren and their parents do this same symbol to each other at bedtime and while saying goodbye. I couldn't believe what I had just heard. Another tradition kept alive and therefore... passed on!
But there are other things that reveal themselves at times. The way I use and fold my tissues has apparently become ingrained in one of my kids as well. She confesses that she often feels like a twin version of me and my habits. Sentimental, quirky, funny, and interestingly odd, all together!
The older I get, the more I have an awareness of how I continue to be an influence in my children's lives. And with this knowledge, I make sure that I guide with honesty, grace, and unconditional love. What I say has an effect on my children, even on the smallest scale. Words have power, no matter what age.
When Christmas is concerned, we’ve found new and even more spectacular neighborhoods around our home that we get to admire every December. And often, while driving around to take in their colorful holiday light beauty, we even have our windows down. Insane! Joe and I go to boat parades where boat owners showcase their Christmas spirit on their vessels in an organized water parade.There are so many of these in the weeks leading up to Christmas.
With the children, we share videos and pictures of our cookie making with each other. While this doesn't replace a hug or physically being close, I still consider myself incredibly lucky to have my family that continues to make an effort to be close. Just a different kind of close.
Now, lights are strung on palms. A Christmas potluck with new neighbors creates new memories while old memories continue to pop up here and there of old friends and places we used to spend time with back in Colorado. Sometimes I still catch myself referring to Colorado as home. But then I realize home is now here, in this beautiful house that Joe and I created for us, and over the years to come, it will be filled with an abundance of new experiences and therefore memories. And all the children are only a phone call away.
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