And in case anybody was wondering, yes I got the title for this post from a beloved classic "Fiddler on the Roof". (Sidenote: I love musical theater so if I ever say something that sounds like a reference to a musical, it probably is!)
There he is, the man himself, in all his glory. Tevye is awesome!
Anywho, so today we talked about what traditions are and basically what we came up with is a tradition is part of a culture because it is celebrated/held in certain groups and they are inherited patterns of thinking and behavior.
So that got me to thinking, what are some of my traditions that I've picked up? And yes, I brainstormed all of these during class while I was doodling in my notebook and not really paying attention (sorry Bro. Williams). ;)
So I'm sure like me, most of you think traditions have to be something huge like a holiday thing, which a lot of mine are because those are the ones that come to mind first, but one of my fondest memories is every Christmas Eve, we have our family party and by "party" I mean all of us eating a cheese ball and lots of other unhealthy stuff, then we gather round and my Dad reads us "How the Grinch Stole Christmas". It's literally the best thing ever and even though we're adults, I still insist that he read it because my Christmas is not complete without it! AND he always reads it in this Grinch voice that totally rules!
We love it so much that one year we all got our own books!
AND is this not the best Christmas sweater you've ever seen?? It's green in real life and AWESOME! Oh yeah, we go all out!
And this is probably one of my top 5 favorite movies ever.
But I'm not here to sell you on the Grinch, even though all of you should live and breathe the Grinch. Just sayin'...
Another holiday we like to do things for is Thanksgiving and while I'm on that subject, in my family we DO NOT celebrate Christmas and start decorating until the end of Thanksgiving day, otherwise that's just sacrilege. So what we do is my sister practically makes the whole freakin' meal because she's the Iron Chef of the house and my dad makes these AMAZING rolls that are SO good that I'm starting to drool just thinking about them. Pity I'll be missing them, again, this year. I'm not bitter or anything...
And then another one is not huge, it's something we do every week, but every Sunday we gather around and usually have some big dinner like corned beef and cabbage, roast, or stew during the winter. It's freakin' good. And then because we just have done this for year, we have FHE right after that because my parents just did it for years so it's kind of weird to have FHE on Mondays while I'm at school.
That reminds me of something else we talked about in class today: we talked about marriage and how when people get married, sometimes traditions can be tricky because everyone is so used to doing things their way, that they can scarcely bare to think that they'll have to *gasp* compromise! I mean I'm not married, so I can't judge what I'll be like when I get married, but I do know that if I don't get to spend Christmas Eve with my family at least once...I will be one very unhappy Liz. And not to be a baby about it, but it's hard to let go of what you've known for so many years. I'm sure I'll be able to work something out so I can start new holiday/family traditions, but I hope I still get to carry out some of my traditions with my family someday!
Hey! Why don't you guys interact! Comment below a tradition you had growing up! That would be fun to learn about because it's interesting to see how other families work!
Anyway, as always, have a SUPERB week and I'll see you next week! :)
When I was a kid, going to Grandma's for Christmas Eve was the grand hoopla of the Christmas season! I always looked forward to it. Grandma would have everyone bring treats and she would provide rolls and meat. We would all pig out, then we would go in the living room for a program. I remember doing the Nativity when we were really little, then as we got older and developed our talents, we would do a musical number of some sort. My mom made her own quartet out of her daughters. She and my sister, Kristi play violin, my sister Becky plays viola, and I play the cello. We used to even play for weddings! After the numbers we would sing Christmas carols while grandma accompanied us on the piano. Great grandma May would read the Nativity in Luke from the Bible and we would end the night with Silent Night. Then it would be midnight and the rush to beat Santa home would commence! We would see Rudolph's nose and urge Dad to hurry home so we could go to "sleep. " To this day, we still go to Grandma's. She's in her mid 80's now, and the program is usually like running a circus and with my Mom's dementia getting worst makes it difficult to do our quartet. Think American Idol tryouts and you get the idea! We still enjoy our get togethers and with everybody getting older and having more kids, this is about the only time Grandma's kids and families get together.
ReplyDeleteWhen I was a kid, going to Grandma's for Christmas Eve was the grand hoopla of the Christmas season! I always looked forward to it. Grandma would have everyone bring treats and she would provide rolls and meat. We would all pig out, then we would go in the living room for a program. I remember doing the Nativity when we were really little, then as we got older and developed our talents, we would do a musical number of some sort. My mom made her own quartet out of her daughters. She and my sister, Kristi play violin, my sister Becky plays viola, and I play the cello. We used to even play for weddings! After the numbers we would sing Christmas carols while grandma accompanied us on the piano. Great grandma May would read the Nativity in Luke from the Bible and we would end the night with Silent Night. Then it would be midnight and the rush to beat Santa home would commence! We would see Rudolph's nose and urge Dad to hurry home so we could go to "sleep. " To this day, we still go to Grandma's. She's in her mid 80's now, and the program is usually like running a circus and with my Mom's dementia getting worst makes it difficult to do our quartet. Think American Idol tryouts and you get the idea! We still enjoy our get togethers and with everybody getting older and having more kids, this is about the only time Grandma's kids and families get together.
ReplyDeleteWhat a cool tradition Marilee! This is one reason I love Christmas, I love the time with family just doing all kinds of things together. I think I actually like the build up to Christmas better than actual Christmas!
Delete