Today's post is all about traditions.
We all make up traditions that carry over year after year. What is your favourite tradition? Big or small, share the details and why you enjoy it.
I'm not a traditional person per se - I don't have a Sunday roast, I don't have a weekly fish night, no scheduled bonk days, or any other such thing, but one big tradition in my family is to spend Christmas Day at my aunt's house. When my nan was still alive about 20 of us used to pile round her house for Christmas lunch and a buffet tea. It was crowded, freezing cold despite the numbers, and we always used to have to manoeuvre over a drunk uncle passed out on the floor blocking the way to the bathroom, but those are times we all look back fondly upon because we were all together. My nan would get her record collection out, which had 'classics' like Max Bygraves, Chas and Dave and other cheesy sing-along tunes. She loved a sing-song, my nan, Cockney bird that she was.
She died in 1997, and the first Christmas after that we went to my aunt Sis's house, but since 1998 my aunt Ann has always hosted Christmas lunch. Numbers have dwindled over the years, as the 'glue' that held us all together has gone and the family has fragmented into its own factions slightly. Of course it'll never be quite the same again, but we make the best of it - after all, life goes on. I'm sure many a family before ours has lost its matriarch and at the same time lost some of its sparkle. Some people have such a life force about them that everybody is different somehow in their absence, almost as if we've lost the oil to our gears and nothing flows quite as smoothly. My nan was one of those people who smoothed everything over, brought everyone together and made things it all look effortless. I'm sure she had a good swear over the cooker when no one was in earshot, but her main priority was making sure everyone was fed, and fed well.
Look at the fetching 70s wallpaper below!
L-R Me, nan, my brother and my mum, who's shooting the world's greatest evils to whoever was taking the photo. Note we're all elbow deep in crisps. Stay classy.
What's your favourite tradition?
Thanks for reading!
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