Holidays are so much fun. Every single is marvelous, and sometimes quite strange (We celebrate Columbus, but not some of the geniuses who made our modern life possible, explain that to me). But no matter the holiday, every one celebrates it their own way. In my family all holidays are low key. Even Christmas is chill and fairly relaxed and deliciously lazy.
Let me tell you a funny story. My wonderful husband comes from a very crazy and awesome family. The first time I met them? Groundhog Day. During their annual Groundhog Day party. That's right everyone, they celebrate that. And literally every single other holiday they can figure out how to celebrate. We all went on a mini vacation to celebrate 11-11-11. I'm not kidding. They are so much fun!
Don't get me wrong, I love the way my family does things. It's my comforting home routine. We have our specific meals at Thanksgiving and Christmas and New Years. I look forward to them every year. The first year I spent any holidays away from my family was the first year I was married. We went down to my grandmother-in-law's home for Thanksgiving.
Along with 100 other members of my husbands family.
I was completely shocked. I grew up in a home of 6, and we occasionally had others over, but our biggest number was 15, and we were all exhausted afterwards. Not to even mention the different food they served. For one, we arrived 4 hours before the meal was scheduled to be eaten. And we peeled pomegranates for hours. I had never even had one before. I am now quite skilled at seeding them, its probably one of my more random talents. Then when we did eat, I was unfamiliar with half of the items being served. Pomegranate salad: delicious and unhealthy. Broccoli salad: not delicious, in fact quite the opposite (although I am the only one who thought that!) Coconut cream pie: I guess this one is normal, but my family is sheltered. And there was no chocolate chess pie. Never heard of it? You have a void in you life that you didn't realize existed until just now. And it needs to be filled with chocolate chess pie. Imagine a chocolate pie that is akin to brownies, but much creamier. Words cannot describe.
Anywho, back on track. I was in shock, it was a strange sense of culture shock. It never occurred to me that people did things differently than we did. Small minded I know, especially considering I have lived in more than 10 states, in Europe, and like to think of myself as educated. I felt like a small town girl making my first foray into the big city, and I was unprepared.
But I loved it. LOVED it. Suddenly not only were there strange disgusting dishes to be tried, but a whole host of other traditions I never realized existed. Now I want to do it all. I want to celebrate Columbus day (even if I find it to be an unexplainably stupid holiday). And now that I have children, I love making up traditions. We have Easter egg hunts on the morning of Easter to make the kids work for their candy. We open Christmas presents early throughout December because I am so impatient and it stretches out the magic just a little more.
Sometimes growing up and learning new things can be hard, but other times it can open up a world of great new things to try. Delicious and disgusting and exciting new things. Seriously go out there, burst your own little bubble of comfort and look at something new. Because pomegranate salad or chocolate chess pie certainly make that journey worth it.
No comments:
Post a Comment