Miss Piggy, Chinese Food, and Santa in Triplicate

My very favorite Christmas tradition has always been the night we decorate the tree together. Because each ornament holds a bit of our family story, it feels like a gentle stroll down memory lane as we reminisce, laugh and sometimes shed a tear or two. We listen to John Denver & the Muppets Christmas Album and belt out Miss Piggy's line of the 5 golden rings - BaDum Dum Dum! When the music is over and the tree is decked, we order Chinese food and watch The Santa Claus. We may just know every line by heart! This is a quirky little conglomeration of activities, but I look forward to this tradition more than anything else every year.

But this year was different. It was the first time that we wouldn't all be together to decorate the tree and I was struggling to adapt to this change. However, with the help of creative children and the gift of technology, we tried a new twist on this old tradition. We gathered together virtually, opened ornaments and decorated our trees; all while listening to the Muppets and John Denver of course! It wasn't the same, but it was still good. We all ordered Chinese food and prepared to watch The Santa Claus together.

Well... let's just say, there is a learning curve to watching a movie together in three different locations. We tried the whole "everybody press start at the same time" approach which of course didn't sync things up properly. So we ended up watching the whole movie echoed in triple time! Not the smoothest start to a new tradition, for sure, but it was just that... a start. Next time we will figure out how to better use technology to our advantage with a movie watch party that has all our screens synced up together!

Our attempt at changing this treasured tradition was clunky at best. But we were still together. We laughed, reminisced a little and did what we could to adapt. It can be easy to hold on a little too tightly to "the way things were" and miss the chance to honor "the way things are." God is good and God is present amidst it all.

Perhaps you are needing to change some of your treasured traditions this year as well. I pray that even though the transition may be clunky, you will find creative ways to adapt and maybe even discover what will become a beautiful new tradition for years to come.