It's the most wonderful time of the year!

Yep! It happened. Despite the debockery (sp??) of the day after Thanksgiving where Mother Nature froze out our annual tree picking out adventure, yesterday Tanner and Amanda came by and took me to Talbot's to get my tree. Now if you've ever gone on one of these tree finding adventures with Tanner (or if you know Tanner or even remotely know anything about Tanner), you know we were gone 4 minutes longer than it takes to drive from my house to Talbot's Tree Farm and back. Plus 1 minute to throw it in the back of my car! lol! Tanner's very decisive when it comes to Christmas trees. May I say, my living room smells fantabulous, as my tree awaits it's destiny of being decorated. It's very crooked. However, Tanner assures me he can create the illusion of straightness once the branches have relaxed, by manipulating the way the tree trunk is situated in the tree stand. Time will tell. Here's a couple of pictures to photo document that this happened. On a side note, one of my customers told me recently that she was talking with her granddaughter about baking Christmas cookies with her when she was young. The granddaughter (now a grown woman in her 30's) vehemently proclaimed that she didn't remember ever baking cookies with the grandma. The grandma hates to bake, but did so to make memories with the granddaughter. The moral of the story? Always photo document what you do as one day you may need proof that you did it! ha!

Cookie Day 2012

It was our annual cookie day! I also LOVE, LOVE, LOVE cookie day! This year I ordered myself an early Christmas present of ceramic penguin measuring cups and spoons. They arrived today - 1 week late for cookie day - oh well! Anyway, I love all the fun, the chaos of the activity, the hustle and bustle of people working, talking, laughing, eating. It makes my house feel alive and it makes me feel like I'm a part of and connected to something bigger than myself. I always make a huge, I mean huge, roaster of chilli (it's a tradition now and you already know how I feel about traditions) for us to all eat for lunch. We invite our "boys" to come join us for lunch and test taste the cookies. Each year there's different cookies, different people, but in the end, I think a good time is had by all. This year we had a handful of  younger bakers who enjoyed trying their hands at doing some baking. They're the ones we took pictures of of because they were so cute. The beneficiaries of these cookies you ask? Well, each person brings some containers to take some home. Mine end up as a tray for the office for the rental community where I live, and a box for my mail lady. Otherwise, I eat them. My kids eat them. My customers eat them. We all love them. Life's short so eat more cookies and have more fun.

Traditions

See what happens? You get busy and stay away for awhile, and they change everything! Whew! Seems like everytime I log in to Google to post here, they've changed things. Ok - I'll try to adapt! lol!

Traditions - aren't they wonderful? They're reliable, they're comforting, they're stable and responsible. They make us feel like we belong, like we're a part of something. This time of year makes me think so much about traditions. My little family (my kids and I) have had held traditions in high regard for alot of years (or at least I have and they have let me think they enjoy them, too!). For instance we ALWAYS get my Christmas tree on the day after Thanksgiving. We ALWAYS get a real, live Christmas tree. We ALWAYS celebrate our Christmas together the Saturday after Christmas day. We ALWAYS make homemade eggrolls and peach pies for our Christmas celebration. We ALWAYS get a new game as a family present for Christmas to play at our celebration. And on, and on, and on. These are things that make us look forward to getting together - the familiarity of it all makes us feel a sense of belonging. I'm sure your family has things that you ALWAYS do, too, which you consider traditions. However, as comforting and familiar as traditions can be, change is inevitable, and our traditions, although somewhat sacred to us, are not exempt from the blowing winds of change. It's how we react to that change that determines whether or not the feelings of comfort and belonging surrounding our traditions survive or go by the wayside. For example, this year, on the day after Thanksgiving, it was 32 degrees outside and the wind was blowing leaves past my window faster than I could count them. I have two new grandchildren born this calendar year, so the decision had to be made that it was not wise to take the little ones out and get my tree. Sure, I was disappointed - not only because it's always a fun time for us (not to mention a great photo opp!) but also because I am now faced with the practical dilemma of when and how to get a tree! But, no one griped, no one complained, no one threw a fit (I guess we're all too old and mature for that now, eh?). But we still came together, ate our Thanksgiving dinner, played games and laughed and visited. No tree, but good food and fun and laughter. After all, isn't that what our traditions encourage? Quality time spent together. Is this the end of my Christmas tree finding Friday after Thanksgiving adventure? Who knows. We'll see what next year brings. Sometimes traditions have an expiration date and the winds of change blow their candle out. Some are only set aside to be picked back up the next time, with the sidestep of a deviation taken in everyone's stride. Only time will tell. And, on the flipside of that coin, I'm sure we'll be coming up with new adventures that will soon become traditions for us, too. 

Take time this holiday season to think of the things you consider traditions and what they mean to you. If you can't think of any, start some. Trust me, when you look back later, traditions help to make fabulous memories.