I hope you had a lovely Christmas this year. Today, I want to talk all about family and traditions. This time of year for me, is full of traditions. Growing up, we had many family traditions. I remember making homemade donuts and candy, decorating the house, and seeing the Christmas lights and window displays in downtown Salt Lake.
As I coupled up with Thomas, I realized I had a new family and new traditions. Thomas and I celebrated our first Thanksgiving in college. We made an entire turkey dinner with my roommates and their boyfriends. We drank champagne, basted the turkey and made dish after dish all day long. Thomas and I have kept that tradition for 14 years. We have some Christmas traditions; we decorate the house the day after Thanksgiving, give each other PJs on Christmas Eve, nothing too substantial, but they are our traditions just the same.
Last year we tried something new; we experienced our first Christmas in Color, which is a mile long drive of lights coordinated to music. We were childlike as we drove passed singing snowmen, through colored tunnels, and towards dancing candy canes. As the mile long drove ended, Thomas turned to me and said, “I’d like to make that our family tradition.”
This year, we did the Christmas in Color again. As we started the drive, I turned to Thomas and said, this is our first Christmas tradition with the boys. I reminded him of what he said last year and he kissed my hand as we moved towards the lights. The boys were in awe. We laughed at the singing snowmen, danced during Feliz Navidad, and cheered through each tunnel.
As the boys get older every year, I enjoy things in a different way. Looking at Christmas trees seem magical again. I love that I have my own family and that we’ve created new traditions. I hope that I can make Christmas as magically for the boys, as my parents did for me. This year, my heart is full of gratefulness and magic as I see it through the eyes of my boys.
