I heard a story once about a woman and a roast. One day a woman was making her traditional roast, and her husband was watching her get everything together. He watched as she gathered the vegetables, took out the meat, and put everything in the pot. Before she put the meat in the pot, she trimmed off both of the ends. Her husband (lovingly, I'm sure) asked why she trimmed it. She told him (in a non-confrontational way) that was the way her mom taught her to make a roast. The husband waited until the next family gathering, and took the opportunity to ask his mother-in-law why it was his wife trimmed the ends of the meat in a roast. She told him that was the way her mother taught her to prepare a roast. The husband then asked his wife's grandmother why it was they all trimmed the roast before putting it in the pan. She looked confused, thought about it for a moment, and laughed. She told him that the reason she had trimmed the roast was because the pot was too small and would only fit after she trimmed the ends off.
The mystery was solved.
Traditions have become an important part of our family. There are traditions Ben and I have started ourselves, and there are traditions Ben and I bring from the families we grew up with. Christmas time seems to be a clash of all of these traditions. When we were first married I found it hard to part with what I knew for my entire life. Ben was much better at relenting, but I am finding that there are several {good} ways to do things.
This year one of my beloved traditions is going to be changed, and although it is beloved, I am excited to try something new.
This year, we are going to ask Santa to wrap our Christmas presents. Growing up, Santa brought our presents and Christmas morning we would file down the stairs (youngest to oldest) to find our Santa piles. The presents were just there, lit up by the Christmas tree lights (some years a fireplace), unwrapped, ready to be played with. It was one of my favorite parts of Christmas. This year, I am excited to try something new. It should be an adventure.
Traditions are an amazing part of life, and I like that Ben and I will be able to create traditions together that mean something to our family. For instance, I just had to replace our copy of Fiddler on the Roof (our copy was ruined by mold in our move), which is our traditional movie to watch Christmas Eve. You see, the first year we were married, we went to Blockbuster on the eve of Christmas Eve, and the Christmas movie selection was quite limited. A tradition was born.
I hope that I will be able to be open to new things, even if I have done it a certain way my entire life. There was certainly no harm done trimming the extra meat on the roast; there was a lot of wasted meat.
