One thing that has been fun over the holidays, in addition to starting new traditions with my family, is sharing old traditions. Actually some of the things that we are now sharing with our kids are not what you would really call traditions, but rather interests.
This year I introduced my ten year old to ribbon candy. We always seem to have some around at Christmas when I was growing up and didn’t realize my kids had never tried it until my daughter asked about it this year. We picked some up at Cracker Barrel (the thin variety in a box, rather than the tin I remember as a child). It was delicious and brought back lots of memories. I saw some lovely glass ornaments that looked like ribbon candy on a tree in a local restaurant, but didn’t find any of them for sale. I didn’t really look for them either though. I am shying away from breakables until my six year old is a little older.
Sharing stuff like that with your kids is fun, especially as they get older. Just the past few months I introduced my daughter to the USA television series, Monk and Psych. They are both fun and funny and are mysteries without sex or gore. Most important, they are not on the Disney Channel. Hannah Montana and the Suite Life are pretty good and I appreciate that there are kid shows like that I can watch without cringing. I actually enjoy watching them most of the time, but it is good to find something suitable on the non-kid channels to watch with them.
It is sometimes sad to see your kids growing up so fast, but it is really fun to find things that both of you can enjoy together. While out of town this past week, we visited a retro store that had lots of CDs of music from the seventies. My husband bought Styx Paradise Theater and Foreigner Greatest Hits CDs and my kids loved them both. They were already familiar with the tune to the song “Urgent” from a television commercial and many of the songs they listen to are remakes of ones I listened to in high school. It makes me feel downright old.
