These are only a very few of my favorite photos I took this past weekend. I just love Thanksgiving! I am moved to tears when I meditate on God's grace and his love, and I love that there is a day dedicated to the celebration of thankfulness. There is absolutely nothing like being surrounded by a loving family and fellowshiping together. I enjoy seeing our parents and grandparents enjoy Rebecca, and I enjoy seeing her enjoy them, the same way I did as a child. She is beginning to understand holidays now, and she could repeat when asked that Thanksgiving is a day to "thank God for all our many blessings." Of course, when asked, the two things she was consistently thankful for were "Dixie", and "Pink Kitty", her two favorite stuffed animanls! The holiday season is especially exciting this year; experiencing the wonder and promise of this season through Rebecca's eyes is like being a child again! I think back upon my family's tradtitions now with nostalgia, and I look forward to making new traditions of our own. Which leads me to pose this question to my family and friends: What special traditions does your family practice, either now, or when you were a child, that are especially meaningful to you now?
2 comments:
What a cutie! Are those clip on earrings I see there? Did she keep them on for long? CUTE!
My favorite traditions:
I am really thankful for my in-loves (in-laws) family, because they have a very close extended family that meets at all the holidays. I didn't have that growing up. It is such a treat to know that everyone is going to be there and you can sit down and have a conversation with them (even if it is once or twice a year). It's a blessing!
(Of course there's always the annual heated discussion of how gifts are going to be done at the Christmas gathering- dirty Santa, with or without "Night before Christmas", how many times you can steal a gift before it is done, etc.)
My family traditions are so different from Rick's. My parents blended Northern and Southern traditions, so that makes my blend with Rick's even more unusual.
We ALWAYS had a real Frazier Fir tree, lucky if it got up days before Christmas (something I am trying to change). We had a mix of mostly hand-made ornaments (kid crafted), small colored lights, and tinsel (carefully placing each strand) Christmas was always about family - which started with the popcorn/cranberry stringing event. One cranberry then 5 popcorn on a string and so on... enough to circle the tree 7-8 times. This time is usually DREADED in that we must stop all that we are doing so that we are gathered together for a common goal. But it has never failed that this time was always well spent.
We always bought one game for the family (from the pennies my Dad cleared from his pocket daily). This game (and others) were played throughout the holiday time. Rick and I have continued most of these in our family.
His family is all here in town, so there is always a big gathering, now the head count has grown to 33 if Rick's grandmothers are able to be there. More if his aunt and uncle come....and so on!!! It sometimes turns out to be a BIG production, but... it's family. One of his family's traditions is that the center food item served is biscuits and ham, with LOTS of homemade treats along the way.
We have blended and meshed in our own things along the way, but the focus is still Family.
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