As I spent the weekend putting up Christmas decorations, I was reminded of the power of traditions -- especially during the holiday season. When I think of my own Christmas traditions, I immediately remember the paper elves from Norway that sat on the table in my grandmother's living room in Kansas City-- and later on my mother's table on our Nebraska farm. Next week when I go to visit Mom, I'm planning to getting them out again to take them to the nursing home where she now lives. I know it will make her smile!
I remember going to a neighbor's farm home where we made Christmas candles. We melted the large paraffin blocks in big pots on the stove, poured some the hot liquid into milk cartons and tin cans to make a variety of shapes. When the candle bases were hard, we used a mixer to beat some of the paraffin to make it "fluffy ," and spread it around the candles like rope around a Christmas tree, and then sprinkled with glitter of various colors -- which we then cleaned up from all over the house for months to come!
And of course, there were the traditional foods -- like's Mom's amazing caramel made from fresh cream from our neighbor's dairy.
When we built the home we now live in in 1996, I immediately started looking for ways to create my own traditions that my grandchildren would remember. The first purchase I made for Christmas was a Seiko wall clock that plays 12 different Christmas carols. The first child to visit has the honor of turning on the switch!
My husband Alfred's most valued tradition is a trip to Pop 'n Son's Christmas Tree Farm with his cousin Craig to cut the 10-12' tree for our living room. (One year I picked it, and it took five men to get it in our house!) But traditions sometimes have to change. Sadly, both "Pop" and "Son" died, and the farm has passed on to new owners. We wish them all the best!
This Saturday we will have our annual Taylor Old-Fashioned Christmas Party and Carol Sing. My mother's tradition was to spend weeks cooking everything for the family dinner. My tradition is to invite family members to each bring a dish, and we have a potluck dinner that would feed the Army! (If I had to cook all that food, no one would want to party with me!)
Sometimes I see people carry on traditions that no longer serve them or the people they love, but they continue on out of guilt or fear. If you have any of those, it's definitely time to practice "The Art of Wastebasketry!"
