New Traditions
December 26, 2018
Before the divorce, I spent Christmas at my in-law’s house, opening gifts and eating my mother-in-law’s excellent cooking. It was what we did on Christmas Day. But after the divorce, I sent the kids to Grandma’s with their dad. And I stayed home.
The first few years, I spent Christmas feeling sorry for myself. But one year, I borrowed a book from the library and it contained A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens. I read it on Christmas Day when the kids were gone. It was such a great distraction that I did it again the next year. By the third year, my 14-year-old daughter decided to buy me the book as a Christmas gift and wrote an inscription. That was 15 years ago. The book cover is worn now. The bookmark is a receipt from a breakfast at Burger King® dated December 9, 2006.
A door closed in my life back in the early 2000’s. There was mourning for sure. But a new Christmas tradition was born. Life was not the same, and it would never be that way again. But a new life started and a new tradition was born. Even now that I have been re-married for many years, I still curl up on the couch on Christmas and read A Christmas Carol. That is, until my husband makes me get up, take a shower, and go off to other family gatherings.
Families change, kids grow up, move out, get married, have children of their own. Tradition is important, but over the years, new traditions are introduced and replace older traditions that don’t work so well anymore. It is not so important what you do, but who you do it with. Have a Happy New Year!
