Traditions

I don’t think I really understood the importance of traditions until recently. I am a creature of habit and love a solid routine. But traditions? My family didn’t really have any. So I created some for mine. With the help of my mom in law.

See, as an only child, in my house I would wait 364 days (seemed like 1,364 days as a kid!) until Christmas morning only to wake up early, race downstairs with my parents sleepily dragging behind me, only to rip through the gifts in about 32 seconds flat. Boom. Done. Over. And like most kids, the novelty lasted only a short time and then I was bored. Dinner came, as quickly as Christmas morning and the next day felt like January 1. I had to wait all over again for the 32 second rush. It was always a long wait.

It wasn’t until I met my husband that I learned to literally stop time. Eric’s mom could make and DID make Christmas Eve and Christmas Day last the entire day. Literally. dinner was on the table at 11:30pm and it wasn’t unusual for the last gift to be opened shortly after midnight or early the next day. Not kidding. It wasn’t that there were an abundance of gifts, it was that she made each gift abundant. Each moment could not be skipped over casually. I could hear her…”Slow down, it’s going to fast”!

Everyone is instructed to open one gift, when it’s their turn and EVERYONE else is to watch. From hairbrushes, to fun gag gifts and all the sentimental gifts in between…not a moment was missed. We’d tell stories how and why we picked each gift, like the farting snowman that now lives in boys bathroom. Everyone savored and relished in the magic of the day. And it was truly magical.

Now, our family has done this every year since. 24 years now. We lock down, hibernate from the world, pjs are the only attire. We have Christmas Jazz playing in the house and A Christmas Story playing on repeat and all the festive smells in the kitchen.

Full bellies and full hearts.

I fell in love with the idea of stopping time, but what she was really teaching me, actually all of us, was to “be present” and good golly…if it didn’t feel like Christmas Day lasted ALL DAY. Time literally stopped! I was hooked!

As I was decorating our house this year, I was thinking of my mama friends who were anxiously awaiting their babies home from college break and how excited they must be. A brief moment of sadness came over me, for like them, I’m not ready to send my babies out into the world. I need more time. I can’t imagine my home without their banter, their laughter, silly jokes and even the bickering. Their presence is my home. (ps. check out my IG post on Thanksgiving Day…a lot of laughs with my house of boys!-all 3 of them)

This is when traditions came into mind. I am so grateful some of our traditions have lasted year after year, and others only lived for a short time. One thing that brings the Martnutt tribe together is food! So each year, I make the same turkey butter rub, the same stuffing, the same whiskey sour slushes, and the same breakfast quiche. I don’t make them any other time of year because I want this time of year to bring a feeling of “home” to their minds, wherever they are out in the world.

Traditions change as we move through stages of life. Like when my boys were little, I’d dress them in their pj’s, visit Santa with hot chocolate in thermos’ waiting in the car for the drive home, and we’d sing to the Christmas tunes on the radio or they would have a movie playing from the backseat. Of course, changing the lyrics to some boyish fun lyrics instead of the traditional ones always made them crack up, which I loved the boy belly laughs. And while that tradition has passed with age, sadly they won’t let me dress them in pjs and take them to see Santa, I am really happy we have instilled some long lasting ones.

I am sharing our family favorite breakfast holiday quiche with you in hopes that if you don’t have a tradition, it’s never too late to create one. The breakfast and dinner table are a great place to gather, converse and laugh. This is the place where you can actually make time stand still…even for a moment.

Cheers to you and yours and creating traditions, memories and gratitude,

Happy Holiday Season

2009