A Matter of Tradition

I know that Frances Moon is unlikely to remember her first Thanksgiving or Halloween or her first Christmas. Despite the developmental importance of the first three years most people can't recall much about them at all. Still these holidays are our first opportunity to string together those traditions that will mark for her the passage of time and that she will look forward to and fondly back on. An exciting task but also a daunting one!

What if we find ourselves so busy that, despite our best intentions, things like making pumpkin pie at Thanksgiving and sugar cookies at Christmas are left to next year and next year and next? And late night Christmas eve walks in the snow never happen and we're just too tired to carve pumpkins at Halloween? Each one a chance to chip away at some of the nonsense of north american holidays and to claim a small piece of them for ourselves.

Deep breath.

There is comfort in knowing that the traditions that stuck in our house were some combination of intention, routine, and happy accident. And that coerced traditions chalk full of preplanning and precision are bound to last about as long as a Paul Martin government. And that with a lot of love and a little bit of luck we will one day find ourselves celebrating both those rituals devised with intention and those that Frank learns about in school, sees on television or simply thinks up from the depths of her six year old soul.