Thursday, December 15, 2011

Merry and Bright

Sometimes people ask me what our holiday traditions are, and I usually don't know how to answer.  Because we don't really have any traditions.  We love trying new things more than we love any particular dish, so the food is always different.  The only ornaments that stay the same are the ones the kids bring home from school.  You know, the little foam trees with their school pictures in them?  I love those. 

But tonight I rolled out peppernuts with Chloe.  Peppernuts were a holiday tradition for my best friend's mom.  Every year she rolled out hundreds of the crispy little cookies and placed them in cute tin cans to give away.  She's gone now, and as I rolled them out tonight with my own daughter, I was remembering her sunny kitchen and contagious Christmas joy. 

We were cutting out our cookies though, with a Texas shaped cookie cutter bought as a reminder of our time in Houston, when it struck me that we DO have traditions.  But our traditions are different than doing the same thing every year.  It's a little bit like stone soup.  They change every year, because as we add new memories and friendships, our celebrations are constantly changing to reflect the new pieces. 

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As we absorb a little bit of the new into the old, and make something of our very own.  But I guess that sorta fits us.  After all, we don't always even stay in the same house, same job, same city.  We are constantly being shaped with new experiences and people that share a part of our journey.  And maybe we will leave a bit of ourselves in their traditions, as they have grown into ours.

typewriter button med  Linking up with Storytellers over at A Picture Book Life

5 comments:

  1. What a lovely memory you've created for your friend, the memory of her mom and now your daughter. I would love to here about the ingredients in these little cookies.

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  2. I love your Texas-shaped peppernuts! My sister still makes them every year, but I don't remember if I have made any at all since Mom's been gone. I have never gotten the hang of rolling out the dough thin enough. Wish I was there in YOUR sunny kitchen to help.

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  3. Ester, I loved this post...so true
    traditions can change
    we make our own
    we borrow from others
    we remember the past
    that is what is so special about "traditions"
    the belonged somewhere else first before they became ours...it is the connections that make them so special

    your cookies look cute!

    Love and Light
    (coming over from Storytelling)

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  4. I love this post. The idea of having add-on traditions each year is fun and when I think about it I've done that too.
    Catherine Denton

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