Rachel Writes Romance

Merriam Webster.com defines tradition as:

A way of thinking, behaving, or doing something that has been used by the people in a particular     group, family, society, etc., for a long time.

Let me pause here and introduce you to my immediate family. My husband and I have been together thirty-eight years and married for thirty-six years. Our daughter is thirty-four and our son is twenty-six. This will be the fourth Christmas our daughter’s husband has shared in our Christmas traditions. They were married this past March and he is now officially our other son. Last year we added our Labrador retriever to the holiday joy and this year we have a French bulldog grand pup to incorporate into our holiday madness.

Our family loves tradition, especially at Christmastime. Over the years, we have borrowed or started many holiday activities. Some were short-lived and never qualified as suggested by the definition, to be labeled a Jones tradition. Others, we still enjoy today. As our family structure has changed, some of the traditions we have enjoyed for many years have fallen away, for various reasons, from our holiday celebration. But the memories will live on; driving around to see Christmas lights and decorations, baking the cookies we couldn’t survive the holidays without, watching Christmas movies, buying a new Hallmark ornament every year for each family member to adorn our Christmas tree, and others.

When our children were young, we would shop each year for a Christmas movie, a recording of Christmas music and a Christmas story. Our collection has grown to a vast array of choices for our holiday entertainment. I will admit some items of our collection are laying dormant, waiting for grandchildren to be born. Until then, my husband and I will have to be satisfied with adding a new tradition for the dogs in our lives. This year we bought them matching Christmas pajamas and maybe next year it will be ugly Christmas sweaters. One thing’s for sure, even the dogs will not escape our pursuit of traditions, so they might as well join the fun.

What traditions does your family enjoy during the holidays?