Family Christmas

I'm Marci- I'm seeing change. The Christmas season is a time of tradition and contains many of my favorite childhood memories.  Some of the more entertaining memories/traditions are :
             -Having a sibling "sleep"overs on Christmas Eve (which didn't stay tradition for long after my parents realized that sleep doesn't occur)
             -Cuddling with the siblings to a Christmas Eve movie that, of course, would not satisfy everybody's wants and desires with eight kids involved.
            -Getting everybody together to watch Luke II on Christmas Eve was a chore and remained a chore until that last ugly goat's baaaaaa concluding the video.

After reminiscing about those I have noticed some slight changes in the family.
Christmas slumber parties are a bit different... Being one of the last unmarried children of the family I share a bed with odds and ends instead of a floor with all the kids.
As for the Christmas movie I cannot say that that's still tradition whatsoever. That was vetoed after we tried to watch Pete's Dragon last year. (Yes, yes, the memories are great from being a child but have you actually watched that within the last decade?)

Luke II is actually one of the few things that hasn't changed much. The only difference is the voices that complain have hit puberty.  

All in all this Christmas showed me that my family is growing up. The "kids" get less silly presents like TechDecks and SillyPutty and instead are getting stuff like sewing machines and home decor (AND Mom and Dad get way better presents because their kids can actually afford them). No body cares who sits at what table for Christmas dinner. Todd, Zack and I don't count our presents anymore. I think that the biggest "growing up" occurring is my siblings are beginning to pull away into their own little families. I have dreaded this for a long time.

I am a sucker for good memories and family time and thinking about changing that scares me. After giving it much speculation I am realizing that no matter how hard you try you can't keep things the way they were. People grow up. Traditions change. Life happens. There is no point in trying to force tradition when it just doesn't work anymore. I think what I'm trying to say is that yes, my family is changing but that's okay. I am beginning to accept that the time is soon approaching when we all must divide into our own families and create our own traditions. Why am I able to do this? Because I have packed twenty years full of memories and can cherish everyone of them. Thank you family.

I'm Marci and I'm seeing change.