We did this little exercise around the dinner table, and it dawned on me that my family has always communed around the dinner table. It's where we've fleshed out memories, frustrations, victories, and disappointments. Nearly every topic has come up and I have more fond memories of my family around the dinner table than in any other location. So some props to my mom for possibly starting up a new tradition for the Hughes family. It was however disappointing that Jon and his family couldn't be there for it. I remember saying out loud, "too bad Jon isn't here. He remembers things that I never can. He'd be awesome at this game." Oh well, a man has to make new traditions with his family...even if it's only for a simple reason that some people must work when others are free to fellowship.
One tradition we missed out on this year is a bit of a surprise. Since I can remember, we (as a family) have always read the Christmas story (usually out of Luke). Before we were decent readers, my father would read and we'd act out the scenes with a small and very old nativity set. I always liked being the shepherds because they came with little ceramic sheep that seemed more special because they were actually breakable. This year, we didn't even get to the gifts under the tree until well into the afternoon and the Christmas story was not read like usual. I'm not sure why we didn't. Maybe we just forgot. Maybe it's because this was the first season that we weren't all together for opening gifts and sharing with each other. Or maybe it's because the day before (Xmas eve) all of us had spent a great deal of time at church in worship and telling the story of the birth of Jesus to our own church families. In either case, I don't feel like we missed the 'reason for the season.'
Anyway, I hope you all had a good year. The following is a picture of me while I was writing this post. Merry Christmas.
