Growing up in South Africa, Christmas was slap bam in the
middle of our summer holidays. We had "Christmas at the Beach"!
Evenings were spent barbecuing and walking around the neighborhood
enjoying the cool sea breezes at the end of the day. Our family often
congregated at my grandparents home where a feast was waiting every time
and it made that time of year just so much sweeter!
It is one of the many places where I learned the value of family, traditions, celebrating who we are and where we come from.
Once
we immigrated to the United States we spent the first few years just
learning about the culture and holidays they celebrate in the US and
when the girls arrived many years later we were eager to introduce them
to the values and traditions - old and new - we cherish.
October
is a time of year where the focus return to family and traditions. As temperatures drop people get ready to spend more time
indoors but at the same time enjoy as much of the outdoors they can
before winter finally sets in. Crops are harvested and people celebrate
the bounty the earth provides them.
This weekend we went on a hayride, we picked pumpkins while enjoying the crisp autumn air and we wandered around a maze of sorghum.
But
the highlight of the day for both girls were riding horses around a pen
on the farm. I could see in the way they pat the horses on their backs
and necks they were in awe. Even
while pulling around a radio flyer to pick out our pumpkins they
pretended being horses pulling their carts. Once at home they grabbed
their stick horses and galloped around the family room neighing and
pretend eating apple treats.
So we continue to eagerly fill blank pages with traditions and
experiences we share which ultimately culminate in being the story of
our life, our family and what we hold dear. I hope they will cherish these
memories even when they are forty years old! I know I do!
I soak up every little bit of it.
