tradition vs. memories
When you talk about tradition and memories you can almost use them interchangeably. According to the Oxford dictionary, Tradition is defined as 
https://languages.oup.com/google-dictionary-en/
And Britannica defines memories as 
https://www.britannica.com/dictionary/memory
So, in my opinion this would mean that you teach with Tradition and retain what you have learned through Memory. A simple concept.
In its simplicity we can apply this logic to whatever religion or custom you may be celebrating this month.
My customs, traditions and memories revolve around Christmas.
i love christmas!!!!!
There! It’s out there. And if you know me at all it isn’t a big surprise. I know it is really meant for the kids. All of the hoopla, presents and Santa. But this is the one time of year that I refuse to be an adult. I start a list early in the year that I add to. Carefully listening to conversations, wish lists. Observing what could be useful and what would bring the most joy.
Then, it’s the buying of the presents. Secreting them away in a closet until the tree is up and the paper is down from the attic. Christmas cards addressed and in the mail by the second week of December and of course, the tree! A live one for me. And don’t give me any scrawny, skinny, Charlie Brown-esque tree. The tree has to almost touch the ceiling and be wide enough that I can’t fully embrace it. I go out the first week of December carefully selecting the most perfect one. (I will admit that I have limited it to 7 feet since having to repeatedly repair and paint my ceiling over the years).
Rennie and I race to see who can get the first present wrapped and under the tree. Nothing wrong with some healthy competition in the spirit of things.
is this tradition?
It’s funny that until I started writing this week I had not considered what I just told you a tradition. It was simply the prep leading up to it. I guess I created this particular one at our house.
childhood memories
I remember growing up barely being able to sleep on Christmas Eve. We would all go to bed then as soon as it was light (barely) I would tiptoe into the living room to see what Santa had brought then go back and report back to the rest.
We always opened gifts on Christmas morning. Each kid had a stocking and would stake out a place in the living room to leave it for Santa the night before. Santa would leave gifts (unwrapped) at our designated spot. The stocking would be filled with fruit, gum, candy and sometimes some sort of small gift. Once all of the oohing and ahhing was over we would open our presents from our parents. These were wrapped and there was usually just one.
adulting at christmas
As I grew up and when out on my own, getting home for Christmas became a bit more challenging. Oh not because I didn’t want to. It’s just that working and obligations strived to keep us apart, however I prevailed. It has always been my Christmas promise to myself that it didn’t matter where I spent Christmas as long as I woke up under the same roof as my mom on Christmas morning. There has been many a midnight departure from home to get there. I’ve worked multiple holidays along with days before and after to be able to trade for that one or two days at Christmas. And I am happy to say that with one exception in all these many decades I have been able to keep that promise.
making memories
As an adult I started a tradition for myself. I would take a day and make dozens and dozens of cookies. Family recipes along with something different each year to add to it. I started in the a.m. baking all day. Once finished I would load up the cookies and take them to where I worked at the time and give them away to all of my coworkers that had to work on a Saturday night. That has changed some in its delivery but that tradition stands. And hopefully I have created some memories for others through the years and brought a little joy.
what are your traditions?
I thought I would leave my most favorite traditions to last. I definitely want to end on a positive note. We’ll get to that in a minute.
Do you have traditions? Are they important to you? Does the thought of those traditions and memories bring you pleasure? I would love to hear from you if you’d like to share.
A few years ago my team and I got together and created a “cookbook” for our team leaders. Each one of us provided a favorite memory or tradition at Christmas along with a photo and a recipe. That gift defined diversity at its finest. What sweet memories and traditions were shared that year.
sharing memories
Recognizing diversity in celebrations is important. I had one friend that never had Santa visit their home. They made an educated and thoughtful decision to not subject their kids to that ultimate disappoint of discovery. Did the kids become warped for life? Of course not. They have the most important ingredient and that is love. Can you miss something that you never had? Santa is just one of many memories and traditions that are out there.
Remember, tradition and memories are the tools. We are the catalysts.
making memories and teaching tradition
Tradition and memories, are these important to you? Don’t blame the young people of today if they don’t seem to “get it”. Maybe you didn’t do your job, teaching. Not too late to start now.
There are some folks, young and old, that the weight of Christmas and bringing the bonhomie can be overwhelming. Are they humoring you or relying on you to bring them out of the slump? That’s a hard one to figure out.
Christmas should be about hope and love. Even the origin, it was Jesus’s birth- nevermind all the crap and bad things that came later.
At that time, in that manger, there was a new life brought into this world and with it hope. Whether you believed or not. So Christmas, in my ever so humble opinion is the season of hope.
all my memories, gathered round here…
Yes, I stole the line from John Denver. I love my memories of Christmas. I think back to the ones as a child and smile at the simplicity and innocence. As an adult I still have traditions but most important are the memories that we create or have been created with them.
my favorite things
My most favorite traditions and memories of Christmas are quite simple.
A week before Christmas my mom and I would get together and open a bottle of wine (this is the adult version), we had snacks and bundled up to sit and watch White Christmas. We had to time it just right to catch it on TV in the beginning and in later years we (as a gift) both wound up giving the other one a copy of the movie. We cried every time at the beginning when they celebrated the general and at the end when they did so again in memory. So precious!
My Floyd sits with me now. We cry each time at the beginning and at the end then toast Mom, knowing she is somehow there with us.
and finally
Christmas morning we would get up and make coffee and mom would start the eggnog. Her own special recipe. We each would then raise a glass, sing happy birthday to Jesus (and I would cry a bit). 
Then we would open presents, one by one. Taking turns and exclaiming over the funny, the perfect and the most poignant gifts.
happy hanukkah, kwanzaa, merry christmas!
Whether your celebration spans 12 days, occurs the day after the 25th or originates with the memory of Jesus’ birth. I hope that you are able to feel the joy, experience a tradition (or two) and make enough memories to last a lifetime.
Sassaleeyours… (a little bonus) 