Holiday Traditions

I absolutely love traditions and Thanksgiving seems to really kick in the thoughts when it comes to traditions. This year we were blessed to get to spend Thanksgiving with the Kneisley family in Walden, Texas. We had planned to be up at Kansas celebrating with Randy's mom and one of his little brothers as well as my parents except God obviously had other plans in mind and my health did not allow the boys and I to be able to drive to Kansas. It was a joy to meet and get to know their daughters and Josiah & Malachi had a blast getting to play with friends that lived across the street from them. Food and friends ... makes for a blessed Thanksgiving. We got to talking about traditions and foods. Our family added noodles to their list of traditional foods. Its always been a family tradition for us but when questioned I'm guessing it comes from my mother's German side of the family. We also do pecan pie and they chocolate pie in addition to the normal pumpkin. My husband always has acini de pepe (sp?) salad but sad to say this year it was a miss as I had to help even making the noodles. Another miss for us was the deviled eggs ... but the boys reassured me that we could do them when I was better and it would be okay. All this has gotten me pondering other family traditions and/or mile markers and here's a few that have come to mind at present: Yearly - Pick out a Christmas ornament that reflects the previous year or something you are in too, or a photo. This is multi-purpose as it brings great memories when getting them out each year but it also gives a life legacy for them to take to their new home when they move out and have their first tree there. Baby's first Christmas - Grandpa gets them cowboy boots, doesn't matter that they won't be able to year them for perhaps years! 8th Birthday - Grandpa gets them their first pocket knife. 16th Birthday - You get a 30-30 rifle or gun of some sort. There are far more traditions, many I'm sure we just take for granite. I'll have to spend some more ponder time on this one. We'd love to hear some of your favorite or not so favorite traditions!