Talking Tradition!

I love tradition! I think there's a profound power connected to anything that links us to our roots. Maybe it's a family ritual dating back a few generations, maybe it's a relatively new activity that our own family started. Perhaps its an ornament, a song, a favourite food that's shared once a year to celebrate a special occasion...whatever it is, I appreciate it! The appeal of creating or sustaining traditions comes from my passion for preserving fond memories. I want my kids to reminisce about their happiest moments as they carry forward a few of our finest traditions; I hope they experience the comfort of familiar smells, tastes, sights or sounds no matter where their lives take them... That's the coolest thing about valuing and honouring family traditions, no matter how much change happens in our lives, we can always find "home base" in our hearts and souls.

In this "Holiday Afterglow", when many of our favourite rituals are fresh in my mind - I love assembling pictures and writing little pieces...to transport me back to the "best of" - from all the seasons - sleigh rides with the kids, family hockey games on the frozen ponds and rinks, huge holiday gatherings and quiet winter nights watching Sens by the fire. Summer trips to the beach and backyard BBQs. Dinner clubs, book clubs and grad trips! New Years Eve - in front of the TV for the countdown and the Times Square ball drop - ringing it in with great friends and family...and Dick Clark's rockin New Years Eve party.

I've become quite obsessive about capturing those things that we like to repeat year after year. I believe that opening a window into our past is a way of extending hope that future years and future generations will "carry the torch" and keep up a few of the great traditions that link them all back to this moment in time.

I think my passion for tradition explains my fondness for the Christmas season. Opening up my boxes of ornaments is like stepping into a time machine. I'm instantly reminiscing about where we were or what was going on when we received each piece.

So, in the spirit of keeping traditions alive, I thought it might be wise for me to wrap up this blog with my top 20 list: Here are the top 20 traditions I hope my children carry forward to future generations - in no particular order:

1)Always take a picture of your kids on the first day of school - from JK until they graduate high school! Then order those "lame" posed ones from picture day too - you'll be happy you did.
2) Always leave the FULL stockings at the foot of the bed and NEVER get caught!
3) The JOY ornament goes at the top of the tree - just below the angel with Zach's face glued to her!
4) ALWAYS blow up and hang the birthday balloons the NIGHT BEFORE the birthday, and after the birthday kid is asleep. (Note, this ritual ends on their 30th birthday or when they leave your house - whichever comes first - I 'm rooting for the second option but ya never know)!
5)Take the family to the Pumpkin patch at halloween, and let them be spooked. Bring home at LEAST two carved jack o lanterns for your front walk!
6) Tortiere and Ragout on Christmas Eve - a reveillion tradition - with grandparents and Bampy's Christmas CD - so be sure you have one.
7) Pop Champagne to celebrate everything! Life's short - so celebrate every milestone: Anniversaries, Births, Holidays, Small victories of every sort...and on New Years Eve - pop the cork at the stroke of midnight - out the door and over the fence!
8) Take Polar Bear walks at the first snow fall. Run around the yard then upstairs into a tub of hot water!
9) Get Heart Shaped boxes of candy for everyone to have on Valentine's day morning, with cinnamon hearts sprinkled everywhere.
10) Track Santa - by phone, by computer, on TV - keep an eye on him Christmas Eve!
11) Use Plastic, colour coded Easter Eggs filled with little foil chocolate ones - and be sure to include a MOST elaborate treasure hunt!
12) Family vacations should involve waking up crazy early - and being on the road, in the dark, while the rest of the world sleeps. There's something extra special about those cold, dark mornings!
13) Sports events are events! Grey Cup and Superbowl Sundays merit Chili and Wings EVERY TIME...and the Olympics are an invitation to dine in front of the TV, set the alarm for 3:00 am to see an event live, AND host gatherings in the spirit of the games.
14) Prom IS a big deal! Limos, fancy dresses, corsages, pre-parties, garden parties, after parties and cottage parties - all GOOD!
15) Cousins should be best friends! Spend special times with extended family: Count down to the new year together, celebrate birthdays and weddings together...those are the folks that really matter!
16) Make movies of your holidays! Whatever technology there is - use it to capture your adventures.
17) Order Chinese Food when you decorate your tree - your REAL tree...
18) Mother's day and Father's day are more than hallmark card days - celebrate with precious time together - The Keg tradition worked for years!
19) Enjoy the Team Road Trips! Fun traditions of getting ready and being on the road with a sports team WILL surface and it's great to be a part of it - Cheer, Hockey, Soccer - We had some great journeys...Never think there's not enough time to go...there's not enough time to justify missing these!
20) Embrace the neighbourhood! Surround yourself with great people in your community and make up goofy "clubs" - Book Club, Dinner Club - genuinely enjoy each other's company...share outings (plays, comedy clubs, shopping adventures), go to the "ODR" (Outdoor Rink)...watch hockey (share season tickets for an NHL team - or watch your own kids play - I recommend both ), serve lunch at your kid's school, cook for folks in need...raise money, spend money, vacation together...Friends matter! Lay down roots and blend old friends with new with a traditional
once-a-year gathering that let's everyone know you appreciate them!

For each one of my top 20 "traditions" there's a host of favourite things connected to it (like going to DQ AFTER watching the soccer game; or having a "theme" for each dinner club that involves decorating the table and buying REALLY cool ingredients)...and my hope is that everyone in my family links their favourite things to a few of these traditions too!
Either way, it was a fun stroll down memory lane!

H1N1 is the real deal!

If we come out of this month unscathed, then we have immunity to swine, bird, and any alpha illness going. 10 short days ago, Mark and I ventured into hundreds of germ incubators between here and Toronto! The Ottawa airport was our launching point - where it became apparent that we weren't the only airborne passengers. Sneezing, wheezing people of all ages were generously spraying their infectious spores, while we stood, shoulder to shoulder in the terminal. It's great that we educate folks to cough into their sleeves, but not so appealing when they are rubbing those mucous-filled sleeves against my new winter coat! The boarding area was a breeding ground for viruses - as hundreds shared a few square feet of breathing room. And if it's not enough to have your breakfast bagel coughed into by the Timmy's guy, then how about herding into a vacuum-sealed tube, with the only air in circulation feeling and smelling as though it had been exhaled a hundred times over.

Fast forward to Toronto's Pearson, and miles of rubber handrails harvesting the viral flavor of the week as millions slide their hands across the surface. Public health was never a huge concern of mine - coming from a fairly uneventful childhood and not having lived through any real pandemics, I was quite shocked to find myself wanting to lysol the rental car steering wheel (yes lysol has become a verb in my vocabulary), and bury the comforter from the hotel room deep in the closet! Everywhere I turned, I recognized the germ potential - from the highly suspicious airport washrooms to the supposedly-sterile medical building - our ultimate destination.

I've never viewed the world through this lens - I tend to prefer rose colored glasses, not lab goggles! Yet, when credible nursing friends discuss how ICU units are overflowing with H1N1 patients, and when the majority of victims are healthy, active young folks - (ok - a little bit out of my risk category)I get a little edgy and infinitely more aware.

No one in my home has been vaccinated yet. Typically, we would decide against the vaccine and slam the media for all of the hype. After all, the big news agencies dictate what issues merit public attention. Which war story deserves our grief, what politician needs to be scorned and, whether we should be noticing how many folks are sick or dying from this season's flu strain. Typically, I would chalk up the H1N1 "press" as sensationalism. People die every year from influenza...But, the reality is - an unprecedented number of young people really are battling this bug right across the nation - and many of the strong, healthy ones are losing the fight. So, if the clinics re-open, my gang will be high tailing it down there! If they don't re-open, or of we can't get immunized, we can hope that the exposure of the past 10 days has forced our bodies to build up their own immunities...But I will still want my young, healthy hockey playing boys and crazy tumbling girl, who spend their lives in gyms and arenas to be the among first ones in line! Call me crazy, call me paranoid - or just call me mom - but I've been noticing that, as beautiful as this world can be...it's a petri dish for infection...and I don't think the spotlight on this year's pandemic is pure media hype. While everything about H1N1 makes up the perfect profile for front page news, it's not interests in Purel sales driving the focus. This is the real deal - PURE, simple, and a little scary!