Family Traditions.

My sister will be here at the beginning of the week for Christmas. It will be great for the children to have their aunt and uncle around and to experience some of our beloved Christmas traditions now that they are somewhat old enough at two and three, to remember.

My mother has started many traditions that I am not sure she knows are actual traditions, one being the mashed potato trick and the other a simple one where a box of wine is purchased and finished all in one afternoon.

I will not tell what the mashed potato trick is but I will tell you that my mother has a large space between her two front teeth. Sadly, she wears braces now so this could be our last Christmas involving tricks with mashed vegetables and alas, my sister and I will not be home for it.

Colin and I have other family traditions that we carry on outside of Christmas. For example, the day of the first snow- as soon as a flake falls we start drinking. A.M. or P.M. out comes a bottle of Barcardi 151.

Our other traditions include:

-Drinking as soon as the turkey goes in on Thanksgiving.

-On the fourth of July we sit in the middle of our street to watch the fireworks...and drink.

And then there are the every day traditions, or rituals, what have you, such as getting a Starbucks on the way to the park or an eight ball on the way to church.

(Okay, that one I made up but it is tempting.)

I love traditions.

When I was dating my ex-fiance I would buy his niece a book about Maine every Christmas since her mother grew up in Maine but now resides in Phili.

I buy my sister a cookbook every year.

So I look forward to my sister's visit. Three bean casserole, the mashed potato trick, a box of wine, and singing as loud as we can to Blue's Traveler "The Hook." It's going to be a fabulous holiday....and maybe a new tradition.

-C