CHANGING TRADITIONS NOTHING NEW?

Changing traditions are nothing new to older people.

Ask me how I know.

And it’s a good thing, so don’t fight it.

Is it time to change yet?

This is what change looks like:

 

Wife and I got on a baking bender and knocked this out.

This is not a fruitcake, but a cake with fruit.

 

Me: You want me to whip the butter and sugar?

Wife: Or I can get out the big blender.

Me: I’m the big blender today, cupcake.

Wife: Once it’s ready we add flour and eggs and vanilla and mix it with the folding technique to avoid over stirring.

Me: Right. The folding technique. Is that the one we learned in the Paris cooking class where I was the whisk champ..

Wife: Just don’t beat it to death.

Me: So we’re making a fruitcake?

Wife: It’s a cake with fruitcake fruit, but not a fruitcake.

Me: You’re a fruitcake.

Wife: You’re the champ.

Me: Fruitcake champ? But only today.

Wife: Once it cools we’ll pack it in a banker’s box and go.

Me: What else do I need to do?

Wife: Once we get there, just be charming..

Me: Got it.

 

Charmed, I’m Sure

Kid: We’ve got good champagne.

Guest: I brought some good wine.

Me: We’ve got little bubble bubbly and fine wines from the local hills and you give me a Coors Light?

Wife: So charming.

Me: I’m saying thank-you.

Kid: You asked for a beer.

Me: May I have another?

Also Me: (to guest) Where are you from?

Guest: Texas.

Me: It’s a big state and you’re a big guy. What part?

Guest: Austin.

Me: Are you UT?

Guest: I’m a Longhorn.

Me: We’re Ducks. They could meet the Longhorns in the College Football Playoffs.

Guest: It’s a ways away.

Me: It feels different this year. The Ducks look up to beating any team.

Wife: Okay, Charm School, time for dinner.

 

Changing Traditions? Not The Dinner Bell

It began with starters so good I could have stopped there.

Then on to the sides and could have stopped there.

 

Imagine a table this beautiful arranged on a plate.

But leave room for:

 

Traditions are a wonderful thing.

They bring back memories associated with the people you share them with.

Changing traditions are just new traditions, so why not make the change instead of fighting it.

I remember being a small child when the holidays came around, and rued it every year because I thought I was the only person in the world with a December birthday.

I remember feeling lost in the Christmas shuffle.

Worst of all I had two brothers with birthdays close to each other.

It was like they had Christmas on their birthday and it wasn’t December, and I had Christmas but no birthday.

And, my friends, I was wrong to snivel and whine about it.

Now that I’m a grown man, a mature adult, I understand.

Yes, I understand, but I still don’t like it.

 

Understanding Changing Traditions

Twenty-four years ago I was a soccer coach for 5th graders.

We were a rec-league team full of good athletes I’d been coaching since kindergarten.

Some of their friends played classic soccer on a travel team with professional coaching for their development leading to a college scholarship.

I’d take my team to their games and ask them, “How do you think we’d do against them?”

They knew they’d win, and if they didn’t, I explained why: “you’re faster, smarter, and play as a team, not an audition for another team.”

I talk to my family the same way to keep up morale.

I needed a little pepper when my wife explained how husbands and wives work things out over holidays.

 

Wife: The husbands always go with the wives because girls want to be with their moms.

Me: Okay then.

Wife: You did the same thing with my mom.

Me: I stuck with you like a husband does.

Wife: And my Mom.

Me: Yep.

Wife: So the boys will go with their wives. It’s normal.

Me: They’re not momma’s boys?

Wife: They are married men, young fathers raising a family just like you did.

Me: Uh huh.

Wife: It’s like a changing tradition, but not really.

Me: So, if I want to cook it up on Thanksgiving here, no one will come?

Wife: We can find other things to do.

Me: We always do.

Wife: We’ll think of something.

Me: I’m thinking.

Wife: What are you thinking?

Me: I’m thinking we had a great Thanksgiving.

Wife: You and I, honey.

Me: Where’s that fruitcake?

Wife: It’s not a fruitcake.