Tradition - New? Old? Or both?

As I've pondered this post, I keep hearing voices in my head ...

Tradition, tradition! Tradition!

Tradition, tradition! Tradition!

Of course, that's Tevye and the rest of the cast of Fiddler on the Roof,  one of my all-time favorite musicals. The song goes on to talk about the family and cultural traditions relevant to the story.

So ... what is tradition? The Free Dictionary tells us that tradition is "A time-honored practice or set of such practices". 

I like that! You notice it doesn't say that a practice or custom has to be generations old to qualify as a tradition. This means we have flexibility to establish new traditions, which is a good thing. I'm just briefly going to share two of our family traditions, one that we established as a young family, some 25 years ago, the other which I just began last year and hope to nurture into a full-fledged tradition.

For the first twelve years that we were married, even after our daughter was born, we traveled some 650 miles one way to spend Christmas with my family, through the West Virginia mountains, across the Pennsylvania turnpike. In rain, sleet, ice, snow, we traveled on. Then one year we decided it was time to establish our own grown up traditions.

The first one we created was our Christmas Eve Tea. Prior to going to the early Christmas Eve service at our church, I would prepare tea goodies in the tradition (there's that word again!) of a high British tea. When we arrived home from church, all we had to do was start the kettles and brew the tea and we were ready. Many years later, after she was married, my daughter told me this is her all-time favorite family tradition.

Then last year, I began a tradition of my own. In addition to keeping a written gratitude journal for the month of November, I joined the gratitude group on Flickr. Although the journaling thing didn't last too long after November, I found that practicing gratitude enriched me. This year I decided to keep my November gratitude journal on my personal blog, Camper.

The four images you see above are some of my photos from this year, showing gratitude for: 1. the lovely fall colors in our area; 2. our "new" back porch; 3. our home; and finally, 4. the privilege of voting in a free election. If you visit my blog, you'll learn about more about why I've chosen to be grateful for these, and other, things. 

I love the theme that Claudia has chosen because the months of November and December are so rich with plentiful and varied traditions. What could be more appropriate for our focus on life than these customs? Please share your photos and your stories with us on our Flickr page.