Tradition.

I have a little tradition that started the year we had our first baby, our now eldest daughter. She was such a good baby and napped each afternoon. All my new mommy friends would tell me how they would use nap time as "me time" and hang out on their couches to watch soaps all afternoon. I discovered quickly that because she slept so well, at night too, that I wasn't the exhausted mama I thought I was supposed to be. So I used the afternoons to get things done while she slept. Our mornings were often quiet .... a walk to our little park or a morning out to a fitness class with friends, or shopping. Afternoons were different. While she napped the afternoon away, I would tidy the house, do laundry, create dinner, make lists and take care of anything I could so we could have our evenings with dh. But I found it too quiet, so I did get in to a habit to turn on the tv, very low volume but just enough to hear some voices. I found Coronation Street was on each day at 2 p.m. and loved my British show that I had grown up on. But could not, no matter how hard I tried get in to the American soaps. She would go down right around 1, so I discovered a show called "Days Of Our Lives" and while I didn't get into the story lines, I did fall in love with their Christmas Tradition. If you've seen the show, you'll know what I'm talking about but I'll describe.

The family gathers at the home of the elders and they each place a Christmas ball on the tree with their name on it. Any family members who have died over the year get a special mention and their ball is placed by a loved one. Such a nice way to decorate the tree together. Every year since, I've watched only this episode, as the days of dear daughter napping long ago ended. And with the addition of each child since then, our tv was rarely on during the day, except for the Christmas episode each year. And this year, we all watched it together, as you can see above. Fun! We may even start this tradition, if we can find some nice Christmas balls for our tree. And glitter! A lovely tradition.

~ Chy