Tradition!

No, I'm not staging a new (Christian?) version of "Fiddler on the Roof." But as we are up to our necks in holiday muck, I find myself reflecting on the many traditions that make the season special for me and my family. Really, traditions are all the separate the holidays from "regular" time. Here are a few old (and new) traditions that I look forward to... (remembering that, for me, "the holidays" run from Thanksgiving until New Year's Day.)

1. Thanksgiving dinner
2. Wrapping Christmas presents
3. Cookie swap (that's a new one - but one that will hopefully be repeated)
4. Stuffing Elizabeth's stocking
5. Putting up a tree on Christmas Eve
6. Christmas morning breakfast and "Wizard of Oz" viewing with my dear husband and kin
7. Christmas dinner
8. Wingo Bingo on New Year's Eve Eve (not a typo - that's two "eves" on purpose)
9. New Year's Eve movie marathon
10. New Year's Eve lobster and/or decadent delights meal

Hey, presents for me didn't even make the list - not that I don't like getting stuff, but really, as I try to tell my mother-in-law when she starts to stress about making everything perfect for Christmas, people don't remember the stuff - the decorations, the gifts - nearly as well as they remember the time, the people, the places where they gathered and made holiday memories. I hope that as Elizabeth grows older, Santa will visit her and give her presents, but more than that, I hope that Sam and I can instill in her a sense that the holidays are special for much more than that.

And may I wish everyone out there in Internet land a happy holiday season - whatever your traditions!