Newfound Traditions
My family was never big on
traditions when it came to
Christmas. Truth be told, it
was one of the two holidays
where I joined my mom at
church, Easter being the
other. I always enjoyed
Christmas though. I felt it
usually, but not always,
brought out the best in
people. Everything felt
warm and fuzzy, tradition
or not. I really didn’t yearn
for those traditions. I was
happy spending the time
with my family traveling
from one grandparent’s house to the other. I
guess I always held that as a tradition. The
one thing my grandparents had in common
was a place where we could discuss
Steelers football, and in the 80s, it was
mostly about how bad they were.
Marriage has brought me a newer
understanding of what Christmas means. It
no longer holds the position of the one of
two times I could be seen in church. It’s
really not all about the presents I get, and
my family and I try to stamp our own traditions out (but Steelers football still makes
an appearance in discussion!).
For the past four years, my wife has
made a point to carry on a new tradition,
one that we have adopted and truly enjoyed
as a family. We get to open one gift on
Christmas Eve, after we get back from
church. That present is a new set of
pajamas. We try on our new digs, get the
hot coca brewing, and get back in our
minivan to set forth on our annual journ ey.
The week before, my wife and the kids put
together a short letter, basically telling
people that we enjoyed their Christmas
lights, and we set forth on a Christmas
lights excursion. Each of our kids gets a set
number of letters to disperse, and when
they see a display they enjoy, we pop a
letter in the mailbox, just signed “a local
family.”
Christmas, as hectic as it is, is a time to
sit and just be quiet for a while and reflect
on what Christmas actually means. Sure,
we make the rounds to the kids’ grandparents’ house, just as I did as a child, but we
make sure to carve out time for our own
family, whenever we can, to truly appreciate the holidays.
– Brad Saleik
Production Manager
