traditions.
as we've already discussed/freaked out over, thanksgiving is next week. and that made me think about the holiday season. which made me think about traditions. you see where this is going.i come from a family of women who are experts at this time of year. it's amazing how good they are at keeping treasured traditions alive and well, and how little effort it seems to be for them. it's like they're holiday fairies or something. both of my grandmothers, my mother, my sisters and a handful of the cousins all have this gift. it does not come as naturally to me.i was not blessed with the ability to have gifts wrapped on time, to have holiday dinners planned weeks in advance, or to even plan ahead enough to send birthday cards on time. i struggle to keep up with how quickly time moves and how to get everything done in advance.i've been pretty into nesting since we got married, and part of that for me has been this desire to celebrate things with traditions like i did growing up. so to keep me motivated, and to remind myself of the high bar that has been set for me, this holiday season i'm going to talk about all those traditions here.
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in about three days here, i will be flying down to the land of the snowbirds with my whole crazy extended family (a whopping 35 of us i think...it might be more now) for a week of Thanksgiving vacation. this is one of my favorite traditions ever invented. every year since before i was born, all the aunts and uncles and cousins have been taking a week-long vacation during the holidays together. it's a chance for us all to get tan, catch up, eat delicious food and take as many naps as we want. there are also some games of tennis and maybe even some jogging thrown in there for good measure.
each family takes turns cooking dinner for everyone else, which in our family is like having a huge holiday get together every night for a week. the nights start out with drinks and people trickle in during the first hour. that's when the volume starts to get louder. and it slowly increases through dinner, ending in a dull roar by dessert. for a rookie like my husband, it can be a little overwhelming, but for a seasoned veteran like myself, it's just the way things are. i thought this was normal until i was about fifteen. then i realized how different and awesome we were.
because of this annual family pilgrimage, i grew up with cousins that feel more like siblings, and a family that is completely invested in each other lives. in the best way. it's a gift that can never be replicated. i feel so lucky that Mister Man was able to experience this phenomenon, as i like to call it. seeing me in this element is a little window into my soul, and i'm so happy that he is a part of that now. this year, there have been some ups and downs, and we all feel really blessed to be able to enjoy another year together celebrating each other and everything we're thankful for.ok, end sappy speech. here are some sunset photos for you to look at. (sidebar: we have a tradition within this tradition called the sunset swim. my grandma demands that everyone meet down at the beach at sunset, and each one of us needs to be in the gulf and submerged by the time the sun dips under the horizon. it does not matter how cold it is, this is a rule. after we chant "SUN.SET.SWIM." a few times for good measure, someone *coughfearsomefoursomecough* announces that we are to run, not walk, to the hot tub to warm up before dinner. weird. but good. real good.)
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and for those of you who just found me on this great big internet (hello there you!), here are some helpful bits of reading that will give you a little insight into my brain. it's one long train of thought after another. with sidebars here and there. proceed at your own risk.
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