My Favorite Traditions

I love traditions. Traditions unite us with the past, serving as reminders that we are part of something bigger than ourselves. So this is my favorite time of year, when daily life is filled with so many traditions. This year, I am especially looking forward to sharing our family traditions with Seven and starting new ones that we can cherish together.

In my family, Christmas actually starts a day or two before Christmas Eve. That is when my grandmother hosts her annual cookie day for all the grandchildren. She started this with my sister and I when I was just a baby. We start with rolling out the dough and cutting the shapes at the counter while my grandmother oversees the oven. After a pizza lunch, we move to the table and break out the frosting and sprinkles to decorate the cookies. With the work done, we used to start snooping under the tree to identify our presents. Now that we are older, the suspense of wrapped presents is easier to endure but we still love re-enacting the snooping. The day ends with my grandmother giving each of us an ornament.

Cookie Day has grown over the years from just me, my sister, and grandmother to include my younger cousins and, eventually, our children. Since E and I got married, we rotate where we spend Christmas and thus I only go to every other Cookie Day. Two years ago, fresh off a failed cycle, I couldn't make it through the day without breaking down. I was at one of my lowest points in this infertility journey. I only saw the darkness and loneliness of infertility. I could not see an end to the journey.

This year, I will get to introduce my son to my favorite tradition. But now I realize that being a mother is not an end, but a whole new beginning. I want to start our own traditions with my husband and son that are special just for us. I want to find ways to incorporate my son's culture to our holiday traditions. I am very excited for the next month or so and know that even if things don't go perfectly, there is always a way to adapt traditions to the unexpected.

Well, that was different

Sorry I've been silent for so long. I don't really have a good excuse so I won't make one up! I have still been reading but am waiting for some inspiration to strike to post.

Seven is so adorable right now. He is crawling around everywhere and pulling himself up. It is amazing how mobile he has gotten in just the last week. He's been doing the army crawl for a while and could move short distances, but now he is following us down hallways. His increased mobility also means he is discovering all sorts of interesting things around our house. The most recent example is that he got into the little rocks that are in the fireplace.

Something did happen in the last few days that shook us pretty well. We've been continuing to exchange emails with M and sharing pictures of Seven. Her responses are usually brief and don't say much about her. Mostly just how much she loves Seven and how cute he is. And then one day she sent a long update about how she is doing in school, how her kids are doing, etc.

At the end, she dropped something big that we don't know how to deal with. It is not bad news per se, but it just changes so much of what we thought we knew. And it was one of those things that made us want to envelope Seven with hugs at the thought of having to explain this to him one day. We are still processing it and figuring out how to respond.