wine on the keyboard

Changes in Life

by Kay~Kacey on 1/6/2008

Speaking of changes and the belief that life is what you make it. Take a look at Suzanne McMinn’s new WordPress Theme Chickens in the Road. Here she is writing about how change is hard. She not only revamped her blog, she’s totally changed her life in the last few years. If you haven’t yet, read her post The Slanted Little House. These posts are full of changes and traditions

polish the silverThis time of year, as I take down the holiday things and get the house back to “normal” I can’t help but think of changes and traditions. As I stand at my kitchen sink, polishing my grandmother’s silver cream and sugar dish. How many times did she do that to get ready for the holidays? Or polished them up before she put them away after Christmas. Into the same china cabinet that I still have. The same polishing motion, thinking about how the holidays went, what food she served, what presents family members enjoyed. The same thoughts were threading through my mind as I polished the silver myself. grandmother’s teacup

I drink tea out of my grandmother’s antique tea cups to cheer myself up. I bake cookies that are from recipes handed down to me from my mom…who got them from her mom. Our holidays are rich with family traditions that I hope my children will continue to use with their own families.

My mom gives all the grandkids dated ornaments–and has since the year they were born. While my tree practically droops from the weight of the ornaments, soon my sons will have their own trees, in their own homes and the ornaments will go with them. I’m going to continue the tradition with any grandchildren I have. It’s kind of sad to box them up this year. I know some of them will go off with my sons next year for their own homes. annual ornaments

What I really love about the holidays is having my house full of people, and sharing in the traditions that have been in our family for years. But I have to admit, it’s kind of nice to get all the extra things put away. To clean up the mess and start out fresh for the new year. So have you packed away all your holiday decorations? Any bets on how many weeks I’ll still be finding a few things I didn’t get put away???

(parts of this post were written earlier and vanished. Who knows if it will show up somewhere)

Michelle Willingham January 6, 2008 at 6:09 pm

We give each child an ornament every year, and by the time they’re old enough to have their own houses, they’ll have their Christmas ornaments, like your sons. 🙂

Tori Lennox January 6, 2008 at 7:18 pm

I love how you use all your heirlooms!

Melissa Marsh January 7, 2008 at 4:23 pm

I took down the Christmas tree two days after Christmas – not by choice, since I usually leave it up until after New Year’s. But the cats had destroyed it and I couldn’t bear to fix it AGAIN just to leave it up for a few more days.
I think I still have the Christmas card display out, and some greenery on the railings on the front porch, but other than that, everything is put away.

LoryKC January 8, 2008 at 8:23 am

I usually leave the decorations up through “Little Christmas”–January 6. So I planned to take them down yesterday but only managed to take down the outdoor decorations (which weren’t much)!
So today (hopefully) is the day!

My mother-in-law has given my kids dated ornaments every year except this one (my FIL is ill this year) so I made sure they each had one in their stocking this year. The collection is growing rapidly!

LauraP January 9, 2008 at 12:16 pm

My MIL gives handmade ornaments every year too. Unpacking & packing them – and all those other memories tangled up in the the traditions and bits and pieces we use during the holidays and sometimes every day — it’s good to have these well-loved things.

kacey January 9, 2008 at 12:24 pm

well, it looks like my mom isn’t the only one who gives ornaments every year :mrgreen: It really is a cool tradition.

Melissa, our tree was in the dining room…which can be closed off totally. Precisely to keep the cats out of it!

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