I’m a sucker for Holiday nostalgia. This morning, I made my 13- and 10-year-old boys listen to these two albums (on Apple Music because you can’t buy an electric Honda with an 8-track player).
My grandmother, who will turn 103 next month, used to play the Smurfs record album every Christmas when I was a kid. And at home, we listened to the Alvin and the Chipmunks Christmas 8-track over and over on our big console stereo.
The boys are not fans. But there are certain traditions that they get super excited about every year, and I predict that one of my greatest thrills will be seeing them carry those traditions on with my grandkids someday.
My father-in-law built an Advent truck with milk bottles.
Tonight, @angiercox and I will fill each bottle with a slip of paper that has some fun activity on it. Getting Starbucks hot chocolate, volunteering for an hour or two at a nonprofit, taking pies to friends, etc. They remind us about it every year. They look forward to it. And I think those kinds of traditions are important.
Thankfully, I am married a girl who is awesome at creating those kinds of memorable connections (and whose Dad was a pretty crafty woodworker).
If you’re not creating or repeating some meaningful traditions, start this year. It’s not about the tradition itself, it’s about the connections we form for life.
