The Christmas season seems laden with the pressure of traditions. You see another family’s tradition and you think OMGwehavetodothatjustliketheydo and then you try and then it doesn’t mesh with your family. And that is always frustrating.
In all of my reading on family fun and traditions, a woman told me how much she enjoys doing the same few traditions year after year with her family and seeing how different they look each year based on how old their kids are or if there’s a new baby in the house, or if they brought the tradition to grandma’s house, or if friends are over to take part in the tradition, etc.
That was enlightening. Pressure OFF. Do some fun traditions with your family every year. Don’t force them. Get excited to see them change and grow with your family.
Anyhow, we don’t have many traditions but there is one thing Mr. Norris and I do on our anniversary every year. We write letters to each other.
Usually the letters recount the significant parts of the past year and talk about some hopes for the coming year. Those letters are them sealed and slid into an album and we open them the next anniversary.
So, each anniversary goes like this: we open the letter we wrote to the other person the year before, read it aloud, marvel at what we had just been through when we wrote the letter and laugh at what we thought the next year would be like, then we put those letters back in the album and write the letters we will open the next year.
Here we are writing our letters at Mozart’s:
It is always very fun.
Gigi and Jefe kept the bug while we had a few days solo in Austin.
This year, our tradition was a little different because we wrote our letters two days late. Whoops! We packed our days full on our anniversary and new year’s eve, so it got pushed to new year’s day. If you’re flexible about your traditions, no one has to get all stressed out about pushing something out a few days!
What a sweet tradition! I write letters to the kids on their birthdays talking about their friends, favorite things to do, things they liked, how they’ve grown and changed that year. I add in a few pictures of me with them that year and keep them for when they are older (along with their 1 year time capsules and a charm bracelet I got for Lainey when she turned 1 year old – I will probably give that to her soon). Love traditions!
(here is a link to the time capsule entry I wrote: http://tierd.wordpress.com/2008/05/01/sealed-with-a-kiss/ )
That is awesome! I love the time capsule you wrote about. What a wonderful thing to have from friends and family. What do you do with the letters and photos each year? Do they go in a journal or a box or something?
I like the letter tradition. I am sure it is funny to read what you all thought would happen.
I am also sure it is a tearful tradition after a tough year, but sometimes you need cathartic tears.
I LOVE this. we don’t have many traditions, but i’ve always wanted to do something like this. July 1 just might be the beginning.