Tradition, Tradition!

Definition of TRADITION

1

a : an inherited, established, or customary pattern of thought, action, or behavior (as a religious practice or a social custom)b : a belief or story or a body of beliefs or stories relating to the past that are commonly accepted as historical though not verifiable

2

: the handing down of information, beliefs, and customs by word of mouth or by example from one generation to another without written instruction

3

: cultural continuity in social attitudes, customs, and institutions

4

: characteristic manner, method, or style <in the best liberaltradition>

— tra·di·tion·al adjective

— tra·di·tion·al·ly adverb

— tra·di·tion·less adjective

What is a tradition?  Are traditions important to you?  Do you make up your own traditions? What are some of  your traditions?

I'm all about traditions. They make me feel comforted, safe and all around, good!  I have different traditions for various times of the year, but Christmas brings out most of my traditions.  I like to have control over things and the traditions give me that control.

Some of my traditions are from my family and some are traditions that Karen and I are coming up with on our own.

Some of my/our Christmas traditions:

Advent wreath:  I grew up in an active church and the Advent wreath was very important. Each Sunday, a different family did the readings and lit the new candle. We went home and had our own personal wreath for our family.  This year, Karen and I made our own Advent wreath and are doing nightly readings. It's calming to me. We put it together for about $5 which was very pleasing.  I'm not normally a liturgical person, but I'm really enjoying reading the Bible every day for this.  Perhaps it will continue. Here's a picture of our Advent wreath:

Nativity: Karen and I have started collecting nativity sets.   I don't know what it is about them, but we both love them.  We have purchased some, been given some and made some.  We just painted our own set but haven't gotten photos of it yet.  So far, my favorite nativity is this one...

Ornaments: I think most people have a tradition of collecting a special ornament each year. My Aunt Rob (also my Godmother) used to get me an ornament every year. It stopped for a while but Karen and I have started it back up. Sometimes it's dated and other times it's not.  Sometimes they're homemade and other times they're store bought.  They almost always have something to do with a hobby of one of us, come from a special place or sometimes they are just something we like!  This year I'm making some special ornaments to send to good friends.

Movies:  I started to watch the movie Elf a few years ago on Christmas Eve. I love it!  My dad has even been known to jump in and watch.  There are many other movies we watch, including a Christmas Story since TBS has the 24 hour marathon every Christmas.

the Nutcracker: My dad is a Nutcracker fanatic.  His favorite is the American Ballet Theater (pretty sure that's it) version.   Good stuff. He found a marathon on the cable channel Ovation a few years ago and watched it all day long on Christmas Day. I don't think I've ever seen the Nutcracker performed live, though. Some day when we have money I will.

I grew up attending Christmas Eve church services. We had a 5pm family service, a 7pm and 9pm and then an 11pm candlelight service. My favorites were 5pm and 11pm. It was a big deal if you were tapped to serve on the altar during the candlelight service.  The 5pm service was a flurry of activity with lots of loud children. The childrens vocal and hand bell choirs would both perform and I was a member of both.  We had a brass ensemble and an adult choir.  The kids (myself included) would sometimes play our instrument as well. I would play the piano  and we had trumpeters, flutists, violinists and more. It was a great time!

This year, Karen and I have been given the task of getting our congregation to decorate the Jesse Tree at church. We can't do it until December 18, but it's better late than never, right?  We are quite excited about this larger scale craft project!  We plan to do most of the work beforehand, so people simple have to glitter or color their ornaments.  Yay!

I guess my traditions don't really have meaning, but they bring people together and make me feel good. Maybe I'm selfish but that's important to me. I usually have a hard time this time of year.  I think a lot and get depressed. This helps that not to happen.