Happy Wednesday! It’s the final “out with the old, in with the new” week, and we’re also celebrating the release of IRISH COFFEE MURDER by Barb and FOUR LEAF CLEAVER by Maddie (aka Edith). Each has a theme of St. Patrick’s Day. Woo hoo, ladies!
St. Patrick’s Day is steeped in tradition in Ireland and the US, many of which have lasted for generations. Since we’ve been talking about ‘out with the old’ this month, which traditions have you done away with that were once part of your life (or family)? Which ones will you pass on?
Julie: Congratulations Edith/Maddie and Barb! One thing I’ve let go of re family traditions is the idea that they have to go a certain way. Dinner has to be at X time, or include Y food items. For me, I have to have ABC in order to be successful. Letting go of expectations.
Jessie: I no longer bake tons of treats at the holidays. I used to go all out and create , teacakes, and cookies as well as gingerbread houses. But with the children mostly living in their own places now I am not desirous of quite so many tempting leftovers! So now, I constrain my efforts to a few family favorites and call it good!
Sherry: Yay! More books to read! Congratulations, Edith and Barb! I haven’t continued my mom’s tradition of making lots of different kinds of Christmas cookies. But we have definitely kept our Christmas Eve tradition of having pizza for dinner. We’ve added going to look at Christmas lights and most years watching a Christmas movie.
Liz: Congrats, ladies! I’ve been trying to let go of having to have everything perfectly decorated, which I always liked to do even if it’s just me. I love decorations – especially for Halloween and Christmas – but I’ve purged a lot over the years and I’m trying not to stress myself out replacing everything.
Edith/Maddie: Thanks, dear Wickeds! I have always loved Halloween. I still do. I used to throw a big costume/dance party, even when my oldest was a baby. As my sons grew, I decorated the house and the front windows and each family member carved a pumpkin. I now no longer have the bin of Halloween decorations in the basement, and this year I didn’t even carve a jack-o-lantern. But I still love handing out candy at the door and admiring the costumes. When indoor dance parties in cold weather are COVID-safe again, I am determined to restart the costume party tradition.
Barb: Thanks, everybody! We have many holiday traditions in our family, especially clustered around Christmas. One that amuses me is our every other year Thanksgiving-Christmas schedule. The year my son was born and my brother married, my mother, who had quite a bit of the Field Marshall about her, announced that for Thanksgiving and Christmas she wanted all of us–or none of us. “I’m not putting on that whole show for half of you,” I believe she said. And thus our every other year tradition was born. In even years Bill and I were at my parents for Thanksgiving and with his family for Christmas and the next year we’d reverse. It’s been more than forty years. My parents are ten-years gone, and we are on to the fourth generation. Bill’s family was always large and now our two families sprawl in all directions. We still (with the exception of the Covid years) maintain the schedule. People who never knew my parents, who don’t celebrate with us (but rather who celebrate with our extended family members in our “off” years), even people who live in multiple other countries, know and abide by Kim Ross’s holiday schedule. Thinking about it always makes me smile.
Readers, what about you? Have you let go of any holiday traditions? Tell us in the comments!