Starting to adjust.

New traditions.  Is that an oxymoron? Can something be new and become a tradition simultaneously? Coming off a Thanksgiving weekend full of “new” traditions,  I am truly grateful.  I have much for which I am thankful.

  

As I get older and a bit more settled I am finding that my responsiveness to holidays is evolving, too.  Traditions are important, and I enjoy the heck out of them, but what is more important to me is the time together the traditions bring. I no longer have to race and fret, to plan and control, nor shop…oh my word, the shopping.  But, I’m not doing it ALL these days.  Younger women and men have stepped up, stepped in.   It can all happen around me.  I cook, sure.  I help my daughter get the dinner ready and plan the menu, yes.  I do pick up some ingredients here and there.  And, I forget stuff and have to send someone to the store…what of it?

I think Thanksgiving and the 4^th of July are my top two holidays.  I mean, they are neck and neck.  I would mention Halloween but I most just like the decorating. Of course, there is Christmas and I love Christmas.  I’ve got some feelings about Christmas that may be in contrast to what the “holiday” is intended and because of that inner discussion, I don’t put Christmas at the very top of the holiday list…now, anyone out there who needs to hear this, hear this: My ranking Christmas lower has nothing to do with my faith.

 

I am very thankful this year, maybe more so than in previous years, and I’ve tried to put gratitude at the forefront this holiday season.  Along with my focus on making adjustments in 2019, and being really decidedly grateful,  I will share that I am also determined to be more expressive, more in tune and in touch with people and things.  Some things I vow to learn more about are not so pleasant as I witness what is happening around the country, and some of those people, well, not so pleasant either.  One of the things I am most grateful for is my ability, my privilege, my right by golly, to be educated, informed and to be a voice. 

So what do I know about this anyway? Nothing, to be honest.  But, in my need to make adjustments I also vow to educate myself, to learn more, to not avoid or turn my head but to face both some beautiful and some darned ugly issues.  Are there topics you are afraid to approach?  I have some.  You want to hear about racism? I can get in to that with you.  WE can delve in to that together.  You want to talk about women’s rights? Oh, yes, hey…I am here for that.  Shall we explore reasonable gun legislation together? Okay, we can, but, I have to warn you, I am emotional on that one. I am willing, however, to hear your thoughts. 

I am making adjustments in 2019, and it starts from a place of thanksgiving, of true and sincere gratitude, more than just giving words around a table.  It takes a weekend in a hotel with five beautiful, happy, healthy, bouncing and joyous grandchildren to bring me to this place.  I have so much to be grateful for, I really do…and I bet you do, too.

Let’s roll up our sleeves together and do the work. 

Big things with little people.

These last few days have been some of “those” days.  The best days.  Unexpected, celebratory, family centered days.  Thanksgiving week treated us well.  It also was the week of a grandson’s 6^th birthday.  Six is a big deal to a child.  Turning six is important.

  

As we did last year, we spent the day following Thanksgiving in downtown Indianapolis in a hotel with our grandchildren, leaving only the 19 month-old at home with his parents this year. While we had a great time last year, and got a better hotel deal, we needed a bit more space this time and chose Homewood Suites.  Our soon-to-be three-year-old granddaughter was experiencing this treat for the first time and did really well, being the last to fall asleep and only nearly drowning Papa once during our swim time.  We only had one major spill at breakfast, which is a win in anyone’s book.

 

We started the stay with pizza in the hotel suite with everyone before we muscled our way through the crowd to Monument Circle on Friday evening, just as the lights were going to be turned on.  Our daughter and son-in-law both work downtown and their buildings had been opened to families for viewing the festivities.  We sat in the warm offices of our son-in-law’s employer and looked out over the crowded street to the circle while he made hot chocolate for the kids.  People looked up and saw our little group, they waved, we waved.  I only felt a little like I was in one of those big battle scenes in an arena before the lion comes out.  It was a little surreal.  

I didn’t fight the lines at stores for Black Friday deals, or even turn my phone on for the alerts from retailers throughout the day as to their deals ending soon.  I enjoyed my family time, loved on my grandbabies, reveled in their conversation with each other as they fought sleep and whisper talked into the late night, while I eavesdropped.  Those little, bright boys, so much like their daddies…I thought my heart might explode.  My almost nine-year-old ballerina granddaughter with a rare, free weekend before the Nutcracker performances, allowed her to be with us.  Awake an hour before the littlest grandgirl, she waited patiently for her to wake up, circling her bed and just barely touching her hair, willing her to open her eyes so they could have “hotel breakfast” which was declared as a favorite, delighted to go in her pajamas. 

   

Husband and I returned home on Saturday afternoon, leaving shortly after the kids were picked up from the hotel, and I won’t deny sleeping almost the entire 2 ½ hour drive back. I came home to the computer and a chance to do some online shopping and get some great bargains, some “just right” gifts.  I have revisited our Thanksgiving weekend a hundred times, at least, thought deeply about family and how grateful I am for mine.  I am blessed beyond measure, for sure.  

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