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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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Thanksgiving is a day behind me and a little over a month ahead, Christmas sits on the horizon. I am sitting today reflecting on the traditions that I have become accustomed to and I am coming to the realization that times, well, they are a-changing, and it is time to forge new ones or we should pull out our tried and true tool-flexibility.
Whether married or divorced, traditions have been an important adhesive to my life-younger, unmarried, I would go eat turkey with my family, and watched my cousins grow. Soon my married self was loading up babies, doing some fancy footwork driving to grandma’s house and his family’s, the eating of the tried and true foods, sometimes we had something new mixed in. Aunts and Uncles passed babies around, little ones cooed-I watched my cousins grow in their new marriages.
As always, times change and my divorced self makes the same trek, now usually to my Aunt’s house, where my kids are older, and they are entertaining the younger kids, energetic new life intermingled with the wisdom of the adults. The food is still the same, but it is different. This year we were blessed with ham instead of the usual turkey, but it seemed apt, because yesterday when I made the drive over to the to the Kansas side of the metropolitan area, I was short one child. Surprisingly, it wasn’t the college one either; no-it was my younger, high school girl who is living it up tropical style in Hawaii this week. We are bucking this holiday’s traditions all the way around.
While we usually decorate a Christmas tree the day after Thanksgiving, complete with hot chocolate and Christmas music, today the boys are at Nana’s house, decorating hers. I sit here, with boxes of decorations sitting in the living room, tree still in the box, and I have no intention of putting it up today. Instead, I am going to the movies, to see something that isn’t rated-PG or animated. The world doesn’t end because the tradition moves over a day or two,
On the brink of December I have a lot more traditions that I look forward to and I am visualizing some that I think we may change, some out of necessity and others out of a desire to mix things up a bit, to fit my always busy brood. I can’t know for sure what will work, or what I will absolutely have to keep in order maintain the peace in my house but I think I will let my family help me in making some of these decisions.
I know for sure, if we remain flexible, whatever turn our traditions take, we can make them shine.
Being flexible is an important thing in a family that is growing up. It's time to create those new traditions for yourself, and it's good to have a little freedom of movement, so to speak. our Thanksgiving day now involves seeing one set of grandparents(my mom and dad) and far fewer family members. It's quieter, but more manageable.
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