Tradition: creating and recovering memories through repeated experiences

With all the babble on my previous post about nature of memory, I thought it might be fun throughout the month to explore some ways our family makes memories through repeated experiences or "family traditions". It is the first of December. Yesterday Shawn and the girls surprised me twofold! They let me sleep in and they set up the Christmas tree! They did not decorate it by the way; that's way too important an event to do without Mommy! But they set it up while anticipating the Christmas season and all the fun that is to come. The girls actually begged me all morning to get their ornaments out of the garage. Little did they know that our tree decorating was not to commence until the night of December 1st, a new tradition with an explanation to come in the following days!

Shawn brought in my two big containers of Christmas treasures and the girls literally squealed as they spotted items from the past. Last year, Kate fell in love with an angel doll made from some rope material. I think it was a random decoration of my mom's that made its way to our house somehow, so no sentimental value to me. But for Kate, this doll was gold! I remember last year how sad she was when I told her I had packed it away after Christmas while reassuring her we would get it out next year. Kate found her doll yesterday and it was pure love. The angel doll is currently sleeping beside Kate and I'm sure she'll be Kate's favorite throughout the month. A year older now, it will be interesting to see how Kate reacts when it's time to pack up our Christmas items. I wonder if she'll sense that part of what makes tradition special is being able to say goodbye to things that our dear to us. I wonder if it will bring her comfort knowing she we will see the doll again some day. I wonder if she'll sense she can keep the doll's essence present in her heart, through her sweet memories.

Why a Blog?

I have been debating whether or not to enter this blog world for some time, as I like the idea of documenting my experiences online but find it simultaneously daunting. It's not that I'm nervous about others viewing what I choose to create in this little section of cyber space; I'm just a bit hesitant to make a commitment to maintaining something creative, as I have a little problem with starting projects and not finishing them. For example, I have four scrapbooks I've started along with a whole dresser full of the most adorable stickers, paper and other cutesy supplies, but zero completed scrapbooks. Zilch. It's really sad. I can't bring myself to work on them in my free time either. To be fair, I don't really have free time right now unless you count the few evening hours after the girls have gone to bed when I'm staring comatose at the computer screen or television trying to decompress. It just doesn't seem like the ideal time to create pretty layouts and stories about my girls' toddler years. I almost feel like I've lost some of those early memories because I wasn't journaling shortly after they happened...I was surviving. But that's another story and I should get back to my reasons for being here, on this blog. On my blog, I guess.

I feel a little creative outlet is necessary at this time in my life, one that involves celebrating my family's experiences through pictures and writing. I truly do want to preserve these sweet moments that seem to immediately transform into the realm of memory where they are either forgotten or surface to our conscious thought from time to time. Pictures bring such moments to the surface of memory. The written word can capture the little details that might otherwise be forgotten, and as a result, strengthen the memory.

Writing has been a source of pleasure throughout my life but I have been a little random and sporadic with my journal keeping (surprise, surprise), eventually giving it up a year or so after my girls were born with the realization, at that time, that the practice was kind of self indulgent and unproductive. Looking back, I think I was just kind of tired and adrift because deep down in my core I know need to journal. And although it might be a bit self indulgent, perhaps reclaiming my love for writing will be productive and beneficial to my well being, and ultimately my family's unity. I want my husband and my girls to know how thankful I am that we are intertwined in this life adventure, and how dearly I love them and cherish our time together. I'm hoping my writing and pictures on this blog will send that message. I really hope so...I don't want to even think about pulling out all the scrapbook supplies again.