• Throw out the cranberry sauce? Are you crazy it’s Christmas!

    Date: 2011.12.05 | Category: Women | Tags: ,,,,,,,,,,,,

    Seriously can you imagine if somebody decided that this Christmas there would
    not be cranberry sauce with the turkey? Even if it’s the canned stuff that’s
    more like jelly than cranberries it’s the tradition that is important right? If
    you’re like my family you have always had turkey with cranberry sauce at
    Christmas and probably Thanksgiving too. It’s just what we do: I’ve never really
    thought about it when I started to prepare my own festive meals until one of my
    children balked at the idea of cranberries and turkey. Well mostly they balked
    at the thought of eating turkey but the cranberries didn’t thrill them
    either.

    Here’s how the conversation went:

    Me: “What do you mean you don’t want cranberries with the turkey? Wait you
    don’t want turkey either?”

    Child: “Mom you know I’m vegetarian I don’t eat turkey and the cranberries
    are not organic and they’re full of sugar. I’m not putting that into my
    body.”

    Me: “But we’ve always had cranberries. My mom served it to us: all of our
    relatives serve cranberries with turkey.”

    Child: “I know mom but I don’t want any..no offence but it’s not my tradition
    it’s your’s.”

    Me: “But what’s mine is your’s….it’s always been that way…” voice
    trailing off as I begin to question the whole concept of doing something “just
    because.”

    Child: “Mom I’m not having any. You can serve it if you want but I’m not
    having any..”

    Me: ” Ok…ok I get it you don’t want it…”

    End of conversation but most certainly not the end of the thought process for
    me. What did it mean to have traditions and why do we follow them? Is it simply
    something we do because that’s the way it’s always been done?

    That thought led to think about money and traditions and here’s what I’ve
    come up with .

    In my family the tradition was that money was hard to come by: money was
    finite: money was something to be taken very seriously: money meant control and
    a lack of money meant no control: money was to be saved for a rainy day…money
    was a struggle that would never get easier.

    You know what? I’m with my kids on this one: I’m throwing out the cranberry
    sauce and the money traditions this year! I’m done with struggle and fear and
    scraping by and making do….What about you? Do you have any money traditions
    that you’re holding onto just because that’s the way it’s always been?

    Speaking of traditions enjoy this piece from Time…

    Now go be fearless.