History building

Last night I was up late in the name of tradition. Every year for Christmas breakfast my family eats the same delicious pastry. We're on the third generation of partakers, and not a year has been missed in all that time. Even years ago while living overseas, I'd scrape together the best substitutes for relied on ingredients that I could find and create some sort of excuse for this time-honoured tradition.

Even though these things are a pain in the ass to make, every ounce of effort is completely worth it when Christmas morning rolls around. This is the only time of year that we ever make these, and the only time that we eat them.

Sitting around the table with champagne in our hands while wearing silly paper crowns from our Christmas crackers has become our tradition. This is what my family does. This is our own little history.

When our baby comes, he'll be joining a whole new family. He'll be coming to us, leaving behind a history that he was born into. We've done a lot of talking about this, and we want him to have some sort of history with our family that existed before he did. Obviously this is a bit of a tall order, but we're doing what we can to bring some sort of sense of belonging. We want him to know that he was part of this family long before he could even join it. He's supposed to be here.

Stockings are big in our family, so we went ahead and got one for him. He's not here yet, but he will be - and this is waiting for him when he comes. Can't wait to meet you, buddy! And we can't wait till you'll be here with us at Christmas to find all the ridiculously cool stuff that we'll put in this for you. :)

And to celebrate the little one that's coming - a 'parents-to-be' ornament. We know that our baby is out there somewhere, and we can't wait to see our family grow - this will always be here for him to see that we wanted him - how much we wanted him (or her!) - and that we were already thinking about him at Christmas.

And when he comes, we'll teach him about how much we loved him before we knew him, and how big of a part he'll be in our family. We'll keep building new traditions, as well as continuing those that have been carried out for generations. Someday soon, I'll make him our family Christmas breakfast.

Happy holidays to all of you out there - may your days be merry and bright, and bring you all that your hearts desire in the coming new year.