Traditions......

There are traditions we all have become accustomed to......

Pomp and Circumstance at graduations.

Clinking glasses with silverware means the bride and groom kiss.

Singing "Take Me Out To The Ballgame" during the 7th inning stretch.

Turkey on Thanksgiving.

Then there are family traditions......

My Dad used paper clips instead of ornament hangers.

My sister buys the ugly pumpkins that no one else will buy.

My brothers both decorate their houses for Christmas in a way that makes people stop and look.

My younger brother does Halloween at a whole new level.

We all bake the same cookies that were made by my grandmother for the holidays.  The rules are simple.....only chocolate chips can be made year round the rest only between Thanksgiving and the New Year.

So what are my traditions??

Yes, I have carried on the traditions of the paper clip ornament hangers.  I bake the cookies.

But traditions I have started.......

Well there is Jennifer Eve.......we always celebrated the night before her birthday. Jenn could have the dinner of her choice.....one year it was a backwards dinner (cake first), another year it was french toast and french fries.......I was grateful when she finally starting asking for things like steak. I am also pleased some of my friends have adopted this tradition.

I change the tablecloth and plates in the plate rack for each month of the year (yes, I have 12 sets of  plates and tablecloths.....LOL).

I decorate the 24 inch high Christmas tree in my front window for each month of the year too.

We shop on Christmas Eve for small gifts for each other. We buy three gifts.....one for $5, one for $10 and one for $15.  You have to be creative trust me to find gifts you think the other person will like.  Last year, we went to World Market, the year before Big Lots and in previous years we shopped at K Mart, Family Dollar and Target.

We always save three gifts to open Christmas Night.  It was a nice way to end the day.  The three gifts are not necessarily the same ones that we bought on Christmas Eve.

And for the last 25 years.....Jenn and I have made Christmas ornaments on the 4th of July.  I was trying to remember why I started doing this with Jenn......I think it was just something fun and different.......and it seemed like a silly thing to do and it would make her laugh.  This year was no different.....we made a variety of ornaments.  We will put them away for the next 5 months and the day after Thanksgiving they will hang on our tree.  We can usually remember which are the 4th of July ornaments but sadly I never thought to put the date on them.

I didn't set out to make these traditions part of our lives they just happened and we decided that we would continue them......

So now you get a sneak peak at the new ornaments that will hang on our tree this year (although good lord knows where we will fit them since our tree is always loaded with ornaments among the garland and lights).  They may not be the most beautiful ornaments but that is not the point.....it's about having fun and doing something non-traditional on a very traditional day.................