Christmas and Traditions

In November, Wil and I had the pleasure of having his mom, Terrill, stay with us for most of the month (she currently lives in Albany, NY and was here for a visit). While she was here, she gave us our Christmas present early. She wanted to be there when we unwrapped it, and she thought we might want to use it in December. Wil and I opened the present and found a set of 4 Christmas plates. We were thrilled with our gift. It might not sound exciting or special, but here is the back story on these plates.

Wil's mom had a huge set of Christmas plates (they are strong plastic so they won't be broken by kids, and have different Christmas themed pictures on them). Her boys used them every year and they all had their favorites.

When Wil saw what they were, he was very excited that he now had his own set for his family. He loved the 3 pictures that were familiar to him and was very happy to get them. When he saw the 4th plate, it was one Terrill didn't have in her collection. He asked her about it. She told him that since we would use these as a family, and she knew that I loved to bake, she decided to throw in a different picture. This 4th plate has a picture of a mom and 2 kids baking Christmas cookies. She made that one for me.

I don't think Terrill knew this next part, but this 4th plate brought tears to my eyes for a few reasons. First, I was excited to have something for our kids that Wil had growing up. Secondly, I was touched that she had thought to include a plate that Wil hadn't grown up with, but that she figured I would like. The main reason I got teary was that in my family, it was a Christmas tradition to bake sugar cookies with our mom and to decorate them. That 4th plate brought back all of those memories of time spent in the kitchen and at the table with my mom, rolling out dough, using cookie cutters to get the different cookies we wanted, and then, our favorite part, getting to decorate the cookies.

This gift from Terrill reminded me how important traditions are in life. I had the tradition of baking with my mom. Without that, I might not have developed my love for baking, and might not have that as my stress reliever. It is such a big part of me that I can't even imagine not baking. I love traditions, and the memories they create, especially around Christmas time.