"Tradition.............Tradition"

Well, now that the holiday season is close at hand, one hears the word, tradition, a great deal. And although the first thing that pops into my head is a burly Jewish guy singing, I always end up laughing when I think of traditions.

I love traditions! And the wackier, the better. But my idea of a tradition is that you only have to do it once then it becomes a tradition. This became evident, in one of my I'm going to tell you every good thing that comes to mind conversations with my mom when she was near the end. I commented on how I always loved the tradition we had of driving around the local lake the day before school started each year. She stared at me for a moment and proceeded to inform me that we did that ONE time. "Seriously?" I ask. "Are you sure?" "Positive". So, now the running joke is if we did it once, it is a Tradition! Sometimes the list gets pretty long that way, but it also gives one a large selection to choose from. Below are some of my all time Holiday favorites..

We always name the turkey we buy for Thanksgiving. Yeah, I know naming your food is a little creepy, and I'm sure some of my Vegan friends are choking on their tofu right now. But it's something my mom always did. Yeah, and it's not just naming it. You gotta talk to it too using it's name. "Tom, you're cooking up nice and juicy! Tom, can't wait to see how you taste!" Tom was one of the first, but we have had a wide variety of names over the years usually starting with a "T". This year's turkey, however, has been dubbed, Larry, by my 8 year old. "Larry, you and I will working closely together in a few days!"

Eating cornbread. I know you're thinking, "What!?! Lots of people have cornbread on Thanksgiving." Ahhhh, but do you have a reason why you do? In my house, it all started in a grocery store parking lot Thanksgiving Day, circa 2007. It was the year my parents had passed, and we had rented a beach house and invited my brother and girlfriend-in-law for the weekend. We decided to have the standard meal on Saturday when everyone was there. So, on Thanksgiving Day, we headed out to Geo-Cache. Around noon-ish, we became hungry. We spotted a McDonald's that had a line at the drive-thru. Attempting to enter the restaurant, we soon realized the door was locked. So we assumed that maybe they were just providing Drive-Thru service being Thanksgiving and all. We hopped in line and waited our turn. We drove up to the speaker and proceeded to hear, "Welcome to McDonald's Drive-Thru. Please let us know when you are ready to order. " So I ordered and........... dead silence. "Hello, H-E-L-L-O?!?!" Nothing. A minute later, "Welcome to McDonald's Drive-Thru. Please let us know when you are ready to order. " "I'm ready!!" I yell. Still no answer. Drive around to the window. Everything is black, and dark inside. It has now become obvious that they are closed. Drive away passing a continuous stream of cars entering the line.

Luckily, next door is a Food Lion grocery store. We go in and find some food at the deli, of which my husband chooses some cornbread. We proceed to eat in the car and find a very good view of the perpetual drive-thru line which continues to circulate cars. It is quite amusing. Suddenly, my husband states that people are giving us a strange look and he proceeds to commentate what their conversations might be, "Look at those poor people eating cornbread in their car on Thanksgiving Day. They must live in their car. That's so sad. We should invite them to dinner." As he says this a couple does approach the car, but I give them such a look of horror, they run the other way. Through all this the drive-thru continues to circulate. So, we always have cornbread on Thanksgiving, just not usually in a parking lot.

The Christmas Eve dinner: The first Christmas Eve my husband, then boyfriend, came to my house I had to warn him about the menu. He thought I was kidding, but alas, I was not. The menu always consisted of Oyster Stew (semi-normal), rolls (normal), and potato chips and red Jello (not so normal). Who came up with that one? Well, my mom told me that Oyster Stew was a German tradition and well, what kid wants to eat oysters? So she added the jello and potato chips for us kids. Occasionally, we would even have a birthday cake for baby Jesus! This went on for years. I still remember having that meal in my early 30's.

My husband and I perfected this menu into what we call, The Seafood Trifecta! One of the first years we did not travel north for Christmas, we had recently discovered how to harvest our favorite crustaceans from the sea. That year began the menu of steamed clams, boiled shrimp, hot crab dip, and of course Oyster Stew. Originally, all self-harvested. It was cheaper that way. Now-a-days, we go to our local seafood market. When she was 3, my daughter ate all of it, now she's pickier. Looks like I'll be adding the Jello and chips!

So, what is it about Traditions? I think it is my way of holding onto the good memories of the past. Now that my folks are gone, I have lots of moments to reflect on which are based in traditions. My hope is that we create as many for my daughter to build on. I can't wait to see what new traditions we start this year. Hope everyone has a wonderful Holiday Season!

Gotta go check on Larry....