Traditions

Last night was the basketball tournament at our school where the classes compete against each other in several basketball games until, ultimately, there's a grand winner. In typical fashion, the seniors won. It seems the seniors always win. These games are always so much fun to watch--especially the guys'.  As I was watching them run up and down the court, whizzing the ball past our heads, I was thinking how important it is--how boys simply crave competition. They thrive in that environment; they need it. The girls, of course, aren't nearly so competitive. Darian was a pretty good basketball player; but she'd just as soon hand the ball to the competition as not: Oh! You really want the ball, huh? Okay! Go 'head--here you go! Or if she accidentally knocked someone down, she'd apologize profusely as she helped them back up.

And she's not alone. Lots of girls are that way. We just don't have the I'm gonna kill someone! spirit that guys often do.

But, of course, I digress. My point was, this whole tournament thing is a yearly tradition. And next weekend, in typical fashion, is the SA Banquet. It will be an evening filled with gorgeous dresses and nervous dates and delicious food and all kinds of fun. 

I love traditions. If I had life to live over again and was just beginning my family, I'd be so much more conscientious to build tradition into our lives. Of course, we definitely have some traditions that we enjoy as a family:

We always color Easter eggs on Easter. This past year was the first time that we didn't actually hide them and then try to find them. Jace is outgrowing that, I guess, as he was happy to color them...and then he was done.

We definitely have the Chuck E. Cheese tradition that has provided all kinds of fun on childhood birthdays.

We make homemade noodles every single Thanksgiving--even if we don't stay home. We make them and take them wherever we are going. I'm not sure other families appreciate them as much as we do ... but we like 'em.

Friday suppers have always been a little bit of special in our week. It used to be I would set the table and burn candles while we dined but I don't do that so much anymore. I think I've just gotten lazy. Since we've moved to North Carolina, we often go out on Friday evenings. And of course the girls are gone and that just changes everything. 

We have several Christmas traditions that we all enjoy each year. And the list continues--I'm sure there are other things that we do as the year goes by. 

This past Christmas we were all talking at my dad's to Jessie, my stepsister. She was telling us how every Christmas Eve, they all get a brand new set of pajamas that they open that night. Then they wear them to sleep and all through the next day. They just stay home all Christmas Day in their pajamas, enjoying a special meal and opening gifts and playing games and all of those "just them" things.

What a cool tradition!

Now that we have Pinterest and the Internet, we could probably make a tradition for every single day of the year if we chose. Of course, traditions would lose their appeal and become rather burdensome. But the point is, traditions bring unity to life. They give a sense of family, of togetherness. They bond us throughout the year and let us know that we're in this game together.

So guys need competition; girls don't. But families? They need tradition. It's the glue that holds us together, makes us unique. They give us hope and let us know that life is cyclical, filled with difficulties and yet...

Gosh that was fun! So glad we're going to do this again next year.