New Years Eve was really fun (minus the fact that Philip had to work late). I was reminded of all kinds of yummy Kretchman food that got me thinking a lot about the power of food in family, tradition, nostalgia, etc. We had cannonballs (sausage, cheese, Bisquick), Pineapple Upside Down Cake, my moms delicious holiday jello, Crab & Pea salad, shrimp with cocktail sauce, and many other snacks that hold less significant meaning to my heart but still hold great favor with my taste buds (candy, chips, crackers, and cheese ball, etc.) I really love the power of food.
We also enjoyed some delicious flavors of bubbly, Mango Bellini (virgin) being the favorite.
"Chinging" our glasses.
We called Grandma S. and got her involved in the countdown action. We did an early version for Shae using the little countdowns that Netflix put up. Shae LOVED it. After which, true to tradition, my dad brought out the pots and pans and taught Shae to celebrate in true Kretchman fashion. I remember loving this part of NYE as a kid. We would all run outside after the countdown to watch any random fireworks going off and hear everyone else's noise makers and then my dad would run out with pots and pans for us to bang on. The middle of the night, as a kid, banging on pots and pans without a care in the world of how loud we were...it was pretty epic.
After Shae went to bed we played games and watched sports (well, Darin watched sports, and my dad a bit). My family is a game family. Give us some games to play together and we're happy. Darin's family is a sports family. Give them a good sports game to watch together and they are happy. It's interesting how something as simple as sports and games can be so important to us, how it becomes a part of who we are.
I've been thinking a lot the past few days about the traditions that merge when you bring two people together from different families. Two different equally delicious stuffing recipes, two different ways of spending family time together (sports/games), two different ways of passing out presents and opening them, etc. Such small things, but traditions nonetheless that are a part of who we are. I wish I had some grand conclusion to this paragraph about merging traditions and ways of life, but I really don't, just something I've been pondering on... although I do think that I've come to understand traditions in a deeper way. Traditions are not just the events we do around the holidays like frost sugar cookies or go to a pumpkin patch or open a present on Christmas Eve, traditions are the little things that we do each day as a family. They are the food we eat, the things we watch, the things we say, the memories we make, the books we read. They are the special things that bring us comfort and joy, the things that we keep coming back to as we age. They are the little things that we pass down from generation to generation that link us together, that make us who we are...like a stuffing recipe, or sleeping by the Christmas tree, or watching a College Football bowl game, or King Bidgood in his bathtub. I love discovering these little memory nuggets and sharing them with my kids and I love learning what those memory nuggets for Darin and his family are. While I'm sure we'll create many new family traditions on our own, there are so many little things that I want to make sure to keep with us from both sides of our family as well. Guess that means I'd better learn how to sit through an entire football game :).
Midnight family photos:
First selfie of the new year. Check.
Hears to an epic 2016 where we create new traditions and rediscover old traditions as well.
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