Holiday Traditions- You choose!
Ah the holidays. Families and friends begin the rituals of making their holidays cheery and bright. For many people this means fulfilling traditions that have been handed down from year to year. I recall when my kids were young doing the same traditions every year for no other reason than because that is the way we always did it. We always opened gifts on Christmas Eve. We always had clam chowder for our dinner on Christmas Eve and ham on Christmas Day. I always sent out cards, baked cookies, bought gifts, decorated the tree and the house. I wonder what these traditions contributed to our celebration of the season. I do know that many of the traditions often brought on a lot of stress as I tried each year to figure out how to fit all of the activity into my hectic schedule. I don't really recall feeling like I had an option or choice about not doing the usual traditions until...