TRADITIONS

The story is told about the lady who always cut off the end of the roast because her mother did. One day she asked her why - and her mother said because HER mother had. So the woman called Grandma to find out why SHE cut off the end of the roast and Grandma said - "because it wouldn't fit in my pan"!!!

Well, here I go again- it's another essay, I'm afraid, and this time it involves TRADITIONS.
I got to thinking about my previous post about Easter, and then began thinking of all the traditions we hold in our family.
The dictionary defines traditions as an inherited pattern of thought or action.
Passing elements of our culture down through generations.
The thesaurus gives us the synonyms- custom, practice, habit, institution.

When I think of traditions, the first thing that comes to mind is Dad. Every Christmas one of us would wrap up a very conspicuous looking package with a claw hammer inside. Dad was always losing hammers, so this was a very useful gift for him and he always appreciated them. It was after he died that we realized that there should have been 12-15 or more hammers in his shop, but only a couple could be located.
Speaking of Christmas, we have always had the usual traditions for that time of year. The Christmas tree (live or artificial) with colored lights, pretty balls, candy canes, and tinsel. It was Dad's habit, when we were growing up, to wait until Christmas Eve and then bring a tree home and decorate it while we slept. The tree stayed up at least till New Years Day, and then discarded or burned.
We always had a big meal for Christmas dinner. Dad did the bulk of the cooking for those meals- he was a fabulous cook.
Each year a few weeks before Christmas, Mom would select cards to send to all the friends and family. She did that for years until postage got so high that she couldn't afford to continue. So only the folks far away and ones she hadn't seen for a long while got the cards thereafter- and with a letter or note inside. This is now a tradition that I also keep.
It seems like that time of year, though a really happy time, also brings me winter blahs, and so I dig into the VCR tapes and pull out National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation. By the middle of the movie, though I've seen it dozens of times, the tears are streaming down my cheeks and my sides are splitting from laughing so hard.. this is a personal tradition for me in the making.
One last note on Christmas traditions- I LOVE Keith's family's tradition with the Ugly Ornament Contest. I'll let him tell about it- if he will leave a comment, please?

Most of our traditions involve holidays, so I'll look at them one by one.
Thanksgiving seems to have a lot of tradition connected to it. The turkey, stuffing, and cranberry sauce. It's always a family get together, and it varies with which family is holding the big meal. As a child, I remember that the wishbone was always removed, and later, when it dried out, we'd "break the wishbone"..the one who got the biggest part got his/her wish.. silly.
We always watched the Macy Thanksgiving Day Parade. It was a real thrill for us as kids, and to this day, I love catching a glimpse of it. When Wendell and I lived in Texas, we joined Uncle John and Aunt Johnnye for their traditional Thanksgiving feast- turkey with corn bread stuffin' and black eyed peas.
Of course it is also traditional for the guys especially to sit down after eating and watch football. Wouldn't be Thanksgiving without it.
The day after Thanksgiving is the official opening of the Christmas season shopping. I have never done that.. too many crowds. It was always tradition, however, to attend the annual Presbytery Psalm Sing. We loved that one, and though it's now on the NY schedule, we still go when we can.
The Monday after Thanksgiving was when deer season began.... Wendell and his brothers were deer hunters and they even took off school to go hunting that day.

July 4, Labor Day and Memorial days were always days we had big picnics. The cuisine was always the same- hot dogs and hamburgers and sometimes chicken. Great fun- we still do this.

New Years Day- now talk about tradition. I don't think there is one day that I can honestly say I ate one certain food year after year on the same day (other than turkey on TG day)..and that would be sauerkraut and pork on New Years Day. It was tradition for my parents and is tradition for us today. Perhaps I should rescind that remark, as I remember in Texas again having smoked turkey and black eyed peas..... they sure did love those peas!

Halloween... we had a LOT of fun on that day. When I was growing up, it was the best time of year. We'd put on old oversized clothes and big ugly boots and top it with a big dumb hat, and with a simple face mask over our eyes, would go out in the evening for several hours on several nights a week to seek 'trick or treat' from the community where we lived. Nah, we were too naive to do any REAL tricks...... though the older kids soaped windows and papered houses and cars.. It was a fun time, and you didn't have to be concerned that someone would poison an apple or put a razor blade in a candy bar. Today it's more dangerous. There are a lot of ugly people out there trying to hurt innocent children. As my own children were growing up, I went with them to certain homes I thought were safe- but then I checked every morsel they brought home looking for anything unusual. My children were limited to an hour on one night designated as Trick or Treat night by the township. Today, our grandkids want factory made costumes that are really quite expensive by times.. and then they have one night to go out for one hour usually, and they are taken only to homes where the occupants are well known. It's getting more dangerous all the time.
I think this tradition has lost it's value for fun and look to a time when it'll be illegal to do so.

Easter.....I know I let my views be known in another post... but I wanted to mention that even though I don't approve of the holiday as a religious experience, I DO love some of the tradition around it. Coloring eggs has always fascinated me. I love to do it any time, but try to find the egg colors in a store any other time. One year I stocked up on the colors, but for the most part, we didn't use them because my schedule wouldn't permit... (that's my story and I'm stickin' to it !)

Birthdays and anniversaries offer more tradition. We celebrate our family's birthdays with a cake with candles and small gift. Usually we can't afford much more and I can't remember the last card I sent for a birthday, though if you look on one of my notorious 'lists', you'll find names scribbled in so I don't forget them. Actually, we have no real traditions for anniversaries that I can think of.

In considering all the traditions, there is another area of interest to me, and that is the tradition of attending the worship service. Some attend just because their grandparents and parents attended.. so they also attend. It is the 'thing to do'. They have no real and/or deep committment to God or his Word, and are known as 'Generational Christians'. They attend regularly, receive the sacraments, participate in the social events, and even live a good life, but their zeal for the advancement of the Kingdom of God is relatively non-existant. They are neither hot nor cold. They know the scriptures, but have never been fully dependent on Christ.
Their prayer life, other than in church or at meals because traditionally the parents instructed in that fashion, remains formal, impersonal, and otherwise non-existant.
By times they live under the shadow of their Christian parents, perhaps even unaware that they are not committed to Christ, nor do they know him as their personal savior.
Here is what scripture says about them:
"So then, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will vomit you out of My mouth. " Rev 3:16
Not a pretty picture.
This sounds like a pretty negative tradition, but think about your own circumstances.. is this YOU? Are you attending because it's expected and your parents took you to church? Or is it because of your deep love for Christ, the desire to worship Him and give him all the glory?

I know there has to be a lot more traditions... maybe you'd like to leave a comment and tell us all about YOUR traditions or maybe even one you'd like to get started?
Post on bloggers!!!