Traditions and Transitions

My kids have been counting the days until we would be back in the States for Christmas. Last year we had Christmas in Haiti, so this year I wanted them to experience some of our different family traditions. One of those traditions is my dad's homemade chicken noodle soup. My grandmother taught him how to make the noodles from scratch and he is the only one who knows how to do it. As we sat and ate bowl after bowl I considered asking him to teach me this tradition but had second thoughts since it takes a whole entire day to make the noodles. Dinner was really special since my dad has been so sick and now he is well. (Thanks for the prayers!) It was also special because my grandfather, who is ninety, was brave enough to get on a plane and come to be with us for Christmas. As we prepared to eat our soup my grandfather prayed for us, another tradition. It's a funny one because he talks so softly we never really know when he is finished so we all keep looking up from time to time to see if he has finished. This year, the first one ever, he talked so loud we didn't have to peak.

Santa has been coming several times a day filling each stocking with small wrapped gifts, very important tradition. As we drove in the car a few days ago the radio was playing a clip asking kids "What is Christmas really about"...one of the kids in the interview said.."Transformers". Parker said, Is that what he really thinks? We all laughed. Knowing that Jesus is what Christmas is about.

As we enjoy the many different traditions, we are also dealing with different "transition" issues.

Crazy things like...

- forgetting you can brush your teeth with the water in the bathroom

- it is not necessary to know what sockets work in the evening so you can use the hand mixer forgetting we have power 24/7

- no need to walk through the house shutting off every light thinking we are wasting inverter and won't have a fan at bed time

- I don't need to cover up my hands while I am sleeping so the mosquito's won't bite me in the middle of the night

- you can randomly stand in front of the fridge with the door wide open not needing anything and just look

- yes, they have celery in the grocery store....every day

- you can have two kinds of lunch meat and cheese in the fridge and eat them for breakfast, lunch and dinner

- you can have white milk, chocolate milk and egg nog all at the same time

- you can really upload photo's on the Internet

- you can take a grocery list to the store and buy everything on your list

- you can drive seventy miles an hour on the free way and every car only has one person in it

- you can leave things plugged into the wall here for hours at a time and nothing will happen to them
It is an odd thing to live in two different worlds and they are both "normal".....