Don't Stop!

I was recently asked when I am going to stop some of the Christmas traditions we started when our children were little.  I informed the questioner that we have dropped some traditions over the years, but I plan on keeping the current ones going until my children are no longer interested. Her reply was, "Well that will be soon. Your youngest is almost fourteen." I've heard the whole teenage spiel countless times, and I have yet to buy into it. Teenager is not a negative word. Nor is it a negative stage of life. 

Case in point. This morning, that almost fourteen-year-old asked me when we were going to go see the Dancing Lights of Christmas, and if we are going to take along our Christmas cookies and hot cocoa - just like we have for the past five years. (And for those of you who are counting, that means we started this tradition when my older two were fourteen and almost seventeen!) My answer was simple, "Of course!" It's a beloved tradition. 

The forty-five minute drive flies by as we sing at the top of our lungs and eat our sweets. Then as we wait in the car line, we play Christmas trivia. When it's time for the synchronized Christmas drive thru light and music show, down go the windows no matter the weather, and it's like all five of us are children again. Magical. 

Why would I stop something that we all still love so much? Will there come a time when they don't want to go? Sure. Will I make them? Of course not! But Tom and I still may go even when we are empty nesters. No matter what happens in the future, you better believe we will be loving every minute of this tradition when we go next week! (Yes, I know next week is Thanksgiving, but the lines are so much shorter if we go sooner than later.)

Don't stop your traditions because of a certain age, or because someone thinks traditions aren't important to teenagers. Just simply ask your teens if they want to join in - if they don't beat you to it, and like mine, excitedly ask when it's happening.