Tradition

Big Pine Key, November 2007

When I was growing up, holidays were a nightmare for me. 

I was an outsider in my family. For 363 days of the year, no one seemed to notice or care. But on Thanksgiving and Christmas, my mother demanded that our family present themselves as a cohesive, loving group. Even though we were anything but, she wanted people to think that we were a family worthy of tribute in a Norman Rockwell painting. What this all really meant was that I had to pretend to fit in, or I would be in big trouble. 

I was a crappy actress. I know this because even though I tried as hard as I could to behave as though it was normal for my family relate to me in a tender, loving way, I was punished. It sucked.

I am thankful that those years are behind me. I am thankful that Steve and I have developed our own traditions.

With the exception of this year, we typically vacation in the Keys over Thanksgiving. We take advantage of the four-day weekend; spending lazy days kayaking, hiking, biking, sleeping, browsing through shops and eating great food. It is unquestionably awesome. If we ever have children, we will continue to spend Thanksgiving in the Keys.

Christmas is quieter. Every other year, we visit his parents in South Carolina (although, one of their gifts from us this year is a webcam, so we may never go up there again). The year we stay home, we catch a movie at the Village and have lunch at Wolfgang Puck. That is also total awesomeness. The village is decorated beautifully, Christmas music is on the sound system and we're completely happy for it to be just the two of us (among the other thousand people with the same idea).

When we get home, we watch Christmas movies. For supper, we devour the Wolfgang Puck takeout we ordered specifically to eat at home.

I love our traditions.