Tradition.... tradition!

(Meant to be sung Fiddler-on-the-Roof style.)

You may recall from a few posts back that I never celebrated Christmas until I got older, and even then very little. Our family never had any long-standing Christmas traditions, we never had a tree, my mother never went crazy with baking Christmas goodies, I've almost never opened any number of presents on Christmas Eve or Day, I don't have any Christmas songs or movies that MUST be listened to or watched in order for Christmas to really be here, we never hung Christmas lights, never believed in Santa, etc..

Since I've recently thrown myself wholeheartedly (or most-heartedly at least) into celebrating Christmas with my own growing family I'm looking for some traditions to make our own. I love the idea of having family traditions in general, but right now I'm focusing on Christmas for obvious reasons.

I'd love it if you'd take a minute to share with me some of the most meaningful Christmas traditions you remember from your childhood (religious or not.) What did you do? What made it special? Do you still do it now? What has to happen in order for Christmas to be here for you?

It's a conspiracy!

I think this is cool. Maybe you do too.

Tesla

I hate starting a post without a clear idea for a direction I want to go... but here I am with time to post and who knows when you'll hear from me next if I don't take this opportunity.

Last night I helped decorate a Christmas tree for the first time in my entire life. Our family didn't celebrate Christmas which is why I've made it 25 years without decorating a single one. The last few years of our marriage I've wanted to celebrate with all the decorations and the like but since we're never home for Christmas (always at Superman's family's house) we didn't bother getting a tree. This year K is old enough to possibly enjoy and remember things so we set up an artificial tree (snagged from Superman's parents' attic - thanks!) last night. She loved carrying the ornaments to Daddy and crawling around under the tree. So far our policy regarding the touching of the tree has been that gentle touching is allowed and no ornaments may be removed (or thrown!) She's done pretty well and loves to see it all lit up. I don't blame her for wanting to touch the shiny ornaments so we haven't kept her from doing that... as long as she's gentle!

Gentle is a word she's heard a lot recently, especially since we've acquired a new little kitty!

These pictures are from Thanksgiving time, when we picked him up from my aunt. My aunt is the breed's founder. Even though our kitty's ears don't curl, a few of his littermates' ears do (it's not a dominant trait), and of course Methylene has curly ears (but not show quality, which is how she ended up with us.) Curls are fantastic cats with great (almost dog-like) personalities and very tolerant of almost anything.

We're calling our new little guy Tesla (as in Nikola Tesla) and K adores him. Methyl is Not Impressed, but she'll get over herself with time. Tesla can't be bothered in the least to worry about being accepted by Methyl - he's too busy scampering around with all his crazy kitten energy. He is a sweet little guy, fond of both purring (we say he's powered by a Tesla motor...) and kneading, and tolerates K very, very well. He sleeps in a dog crate in the kitchen for now and each morning K wakes up saying, "Tesla out? Tesla out?" She instructs him on which toy he is or isn't allowed to play with at any given time. He's pretty relaxed about the whole thing and doesn't mind being bossed as long as he has someone's attention!

I'm very impressed with K's overall sensitivity and gentleness to Tesla. For not even being 2 years old yet (and Tesla is 3.5 months) they tolerate each other and cooperate quite well. K can appropriately carry him most of the time (under my strict supervision, of course!) and he's received many kisses. She sometimes is quite insistent upon kissing him exactly on the nose and is irritated when he doesn't comply ("No, Tesla! Kiss!").