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Lindsay Metcalf
on Jun 19 2013 - 06:00 AM
My top five most important moments of the summer so far
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mara williams
on Jun 18 2013 - 06:00 AM
Hey, manchild, mama says: clean your room, wash the dishes, don't drink and drive.
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Emily Parnell
on Jun 16 2013 - 06:00 AM
Eating fresh, local produce is good for body and soul
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Jim Cosgrove
on Jun 13 2013 - 06:00 AM
I just want to buy some pants. Please, turn down the music.
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"So is your tree up yet?" I asked my dad on our phone call the other day. Our tree went up a few days after Thanksgiving, late for us. It usually goes up the day after.
"Nope," he said, matter of factly.
"What? Get your tree up! What is wrong with you?"
"It's the eighth," he said. He was almost scolding me, unhappy that I dared accuse him of not being in the Christmas spirit when it was only the eighth of December.
"What are you doing for Christmas?" I asked. "Are you gonna see Aunt Connie and Uncle Mike?"
"Nope," he said. "Your brother wants chili, so we're gonna stay home and have chili."
"WHAT?" I yelled. I really did. I yelled. "You can't have chili! You have to have turkey! It's Christmas! And what do you mean you're not gonna see your sister?" A few deep breaths later I calmed down a little bit, then I said, "How about we come up there for Christmas. I know I said we were never travelling on the holidays again, but how 'bout it?"
"No," he said. "Don't spend money. It'll be cold. And you don't want chili."
He was right. I didn't want chili. I wanted turkey. I wanted him to have his tree up already. I wanted him to see his sister. I want him to eat more fresh vegetables, too, though, and he won't do that either. Prolly doesn't get enough fiber, either. Parents. Pfft.
I hung up, just a tad weepy. I let him know it, too. When I was a kid, we always woke up to presents under the tree. Then, that evening, we'd drive to Peoria to Connie and Mike's. There would be more presents, there, too, but that wasn't the important part. There would also be cousins. There would be an amazing dinner of turkey and stuffing. Gramma would make the sweet potatoes. I'd play with my cousins Barbies because I was convinced they were better than mine. We would sing, and somewhere in the holiday mix we would watch Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer and A Charlie Brown Christmas. The house would be plastered in snowflakes and paper chains. And there would be a huge Engholm family Christmas with all the extended family, but that was back when my great-gramma was still alive.
Now, there's none of that. And my dad didn't even want me to come up. I mean, it's not like he doesn't want to see us. I see what he's getting at. We're far away, traveling is expensive and a hassle, and that doesn't hurt my feelings. I'm not mad.
"I just want family to be together for Christmas," I said. "I'm sorry I said I wasn't travelling anymore for the holidays."
My dad's voice got serious. "You have your own family, Valorie. It's okay to make your own traditions."
So, I guess we do. We get our tree up right after Thanksgiving and take it down after New Year's. We watch Elf instead of Rudolph. We're going to see my husband's family for Christmas. We decorate our whole house in snowflakes and paper chains. I guess I'm just so attached to my memories that it's hard to remember that we're always making new ones. My dad's traditions when he was a kid were much different than when he had kids of his own, and I guess it's the same for me. And when Marc and Charlotte have kids, their traditions might be different.
My dad is right. Woodhull is 400 miles away, which is why I said last year that we weren't travelling anymore! He has to work the next day, anyway, so it wouldn't have been much of a visit. I'm not upset. I'll see him soon. And, some of the things from my childhood have hung on to this day. My kids love cutting snowflakes!
What traditions do you hang on to from the holidays of your childhood? What new ones do you have? The passing of time can be a hard thing to deal with, and holidays always remind me of that. But it's going to be a Merry Christmas, and there's nothing a belated tree-trimming and chili dinner can do to change that!
Christmas is hard on us too because of family travel - miles to go, people to see, so little time. As for traditions, we have a few - turkey (yes!), and I put up Christmas ornaments with pictures of former pets so they can continue to share Christmas with the family.This year we will resurrect a family tradition from the kid's child hood. Near where we lived in MI (where adult son and his family now live) there is a Bavarian town with a huge (like 3 football fields big huge) Christmas store. We would go there a few days before Christmas and choose new tree ornaments that represent significant events in each of our lives from the past year. Then we would go to the fancy Bavarian restaurant for a wonderful dinner. Our new son in law and our grand daughter will experience this for the first time. When we decided MI was where we would be this year, everyone wanted to do this again. Mama and Daddy included!
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