Where are the heels to click to my clack?
What is your favorite family tradition?
My absolute favorite family tradition happens the Saturday after Thanksgiving. Our entire family rides out to a Christmas tree farm, and picks out the perfect tree for mom and dad's house (which, at one point during this tradition, was the family house.)
Inevitably, within the first five minutes of being at the farm, someone will find THE tree. And, also inevitably, mom will decide that we need to look at more trees to be sure that we have found the perfect one. At some point over the years, someone got smart enough to have one of us stand by this first tree and lay claim to it, because several times over the years, we have all gone off to find a "better" tree, and the original, most perfect tree, has been claimed by another family.
Dad gets down and cuts the tree. Several times other people have tried, and my brother has actually become very adept at getting it down quite quickly. Everyone else ... well, sometimes daddy just does things the best.
The tree gets tied to the top of a car, and in recent years, we have been blessed with other individuals that have entered our family who have trucks, and we're able to just toss the tree in the truck bed. One particularly interesting ride home was when my station wagon was the chosen car. We tied the tree down, and Becky and Danny were riding back home with me. I probably was 16 or 17, which made them maybe 9 and 10, maybe 10 and 11. As we were driving home, the tree began to slip off the back end of my car, and I will never forget watching Danny pulling down on the twine with all his might to keep the tree from landing in the middle of the road.
When we get home, mom has made sandwiches for us to eat as we decorate the tree. Dad always does the lights. Because, well, he's just the best at it. While we eat and do lights and garland, Christmas music plays. But once we get to the down and dirty placement of the ornaments, Mr. Magoo's Christmas Carol comes on. When I was younger, I never quite understood why we watched it every year, and I was told, every year, it's tradition. Now that I'm older, and have my own little ones, I get teary eyed as Mr. Magoo goes back to Christmas' past and sees himself as that lonely boy who nobody wanted to bring home for Christmas, and who has no family to go home to (Alone in the World is the song!). Now that I'm older, and have some wisdom under my belt, I can more fully comprehend why this movie, and especially that scene, is so important. As a family, we may not have it all together. We may get into some tiffs here and there, but we always will have somewhere to call "home," and all five of us, and our growing and emerging families, will always have somewhere to go no matter what.
I'm so grateful for this tradition. When I was younger, it was fun to decorate the tree. To help mom make the egg salad, and the tuna salad and make sandwiches. To watch dad place the lights JUST RIGHT so that it made the entire tree sparkle. When I was really little, dad would lift me up to put the tree topper on. As I grew, that got passed down to whomever was youngest (but still old enough to not knock the entire tree over!) Now that I have my own kids, this honor has been passed to Liam, and possibly to B this year. I always loved that even the youngest among us was able to be honored with helping with the decorating.
One day, this tradition may no longer look the same. Some years, some people may not be with us as we follow the steps of tradition. The best part of tradition, though, is the feelings that it brings up. The feelings of love, acceptance, togetherness, and the indescribable, yet still very present, feeling of FAMILY.
*Alone in the World youtube link!*
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b7qOFB4IXA8
My absolute favorite family tradition happens the Saturday after Thanksgiving. Our entire family rides out to a Christmas tree farm, and picks out the perfect tree for mom and dad's house (which, at one point during this tradition, was the family house.)
Inevitably, within the first five minutes of being at the farm, someone will find THE tree. And, also inevitably, mom will decide that we need to look at more trees to be sure that we have found the perfect one. At some point over the years, someone got smart enough to have one of us stand by this first tree and lay claim to it, because several times over the years, we have all gone off to find a "better" tree, and the original, most perfect tree, has been claimed by another family.
Dad gets down and cuts the tree. Several times other people have tried, and my brother has actually become very adept at getting it down quite quickly. Everyone else ... well, sometimes daddy just does things the best.
The tree gets tied to the top of a car, and in recent years, we have been blessed with other individuals that have entered our family who have trucks, and we're able to just toss the tree in the truck bed. One particularly interesting ride home was when my station wagon was the chosen car. We tied the tree down, and Becky and Danny were riding back home with me. I probably was 16 or 17, which made them maybe 9 and 10, maybe 10 and 11. As we were driving home, the tree began to slip off the back end of my car, and I will never forget watching Danny pulling down on the twine with all his might to keep the tree from landing in the middle of the road.
When we get home, mom has made sandwiches for us to eat as we decorate the tree. Dad always does the lights. Because, well, he's just the best at it. While we eat and do lights and garland, Christmas music plays. But once we get to the down and dirty placement of the ornaments, Mr. Magoo's Christmas Carol comes on. When I was younger, I never quite understood why we watched it every year, and I was told, every year, it's tradition. Now that I'm older, and have my own little ones, I get teary eyed as Mr. Magoo goes back to Christmas' past and sees himself as that lonely boy who nobody wanted to bring home for Christmas, and who has no family to go home to (Alone in the World is the song!). Now that I'm older, and have some wisdom under my belt, I can more fully comprehend why this movie, and especially that scene, is so important. As a family, we may not have it all together. We may get into some tiffs here and there, but we always will have somewhere to call "home," and all five of us, and our growing and emerging families, will always have somewhere to go no matter what.
I'm so grateful for this tradition. When I was younger, it was fun to decorate the tree. To help mom make the egg salad, and the tuna salad and make sandwiches. To watch dad place the lights JUST RIGHT so that it made the entire tree sparkle. When I was really little, dad would lift me up to put the tree topper on. As I grew, that got passed down to whomever was youngest (but still old enough to not knock the entire tree over!) Now that I have my own kids, this honor has been passed to Liam, and possibly to B this year. I always loved that even the youngest among us was able to be honored with helping with the decorating.
One day, this tradition may no longer look the same. Some years, some people may not be with us as we follow the steps of tradition. The best part of tradition, though, is the feelings that it brings up. The feelings of love, acceptance, togetherness, and the indescribable, yet still very present, feeling of FAMILY.
*Alone in the World youtube link!*
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b7qOFB4IXA8
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