Christmas Ritual? What’s a Ritual?
Whenever I hear the word ritual, I either think of obsessive/compulsive disorders (as in, his ritual hand washing had caused his skin to become raw and chaffed) or potential Mel Gibson movies. Christmas does not, in my book, belong with ritual. But I have been reading some blog posts that have me thinking otherwise.
Child’s Play X2 has a regular guest blogger series where people blog about their Family Rituals. Bloggers like Issa’s World, Two Pink Lines, Sarah and the Goon Squad, and Friday Play Date, to name a few.
So this got me to thinking; what kind of rituals am I going to pass on to my unborn twins? I sat back and thought about my own childhood traditions.
When I was a child, we always….
Well, then there was…
But…
Nothing.
The only thing I could come up with was going to my grandparents for the holidays. Yes that is a tradition, of sorts. And yes, we set up a tree and hung ornaments, but it was done more out of expectation than any type of ritual.
And all of this explains why I’m a bit of a Scrooge during the holidays.
In the last 20 years, I can count the number of times I’ve set up a tree on one hand. Usually I make a good excuse – we’re traveling for the holidays, we’re going to friends’ house to celebrate, trees are expensive… and the list goes on.
P.Pie and I have started a few rituals. Well, one.
On Christmas morning we get up, throw on the ski gear, drive up to the mountains, and hit the slopes. We’ll have to put that on hold until the kids can strap on their own skis/’board.
In my heart, I want to have more rituals.
I want to take the twins up into the mountains and pick our tree. I want them to fall on their backs and make snow angels while I sweat buckets trying to cut down a green tree with a hacksaw. I want to yell at them to get off the ladder as I try to put up lights without breaking my neck.
I want ZuZu’s petals.
So I am going to endeavor to create holiday rituals for the whole family.
Next year.
posted by Rob Barron at 9:00 PM
2 Comments:
That's what's great about this whole ritual thing - you can make them up as you go along.
And don't worry - the most common response when I ask someone to write about their family traditions is... I don't have any!
My wife and I are trying to create some - which is where the guest blogging series originated - and we're still adding to them.
Good luck!
Actually what becomes an important "ritual" to the kids is often something small I didn't even think much about. (Like putting Frosty the Snowman in the same spot on the same shelf every year. I just put things out, don't care where. My oldest boy moves things to the same spots every year.) If something happens a couple of times, it's a "ritual" to a kid, and then you have to keep doing it.
Me, I like to mix things up, keep doing things a little differently each time. So the ritual thing kind of drives me crazy.
Post a Comment
<< Home