Continuing Traditions...for everyone. Ode to Lyriq

I have not quite been myself the past year.  I am one to celebrate every holiday to the fullest. Creating traditions and finding crafts to coincide with holidays was just as exciting as the approaching holiday.  Seeing the kids' faces light up was always better than any material gift.  My son was really into it all when he was younger.  As the years passed, his excitement for holidays diminished.  He does still enjoy Christmas Eve activities, especially the gingerbread house decorating contest that has grown to include extended family and friends.  But, he is pretty indifferent about Christmas Day.  His favorite holiday is Halloween.  We go all out for it.  His big dream is to acquire land & a building to do annual haunts.  I will do whatever to help make that happen.

Luckily, I have nieces and a nephew who still love it all.  My oldest niece (and the oldest grandchild), MeeMee, really got me started with all of the holiday stuff.  She is in her 20s and she visibly shows her disappointment when I don't go all out.  She absolutely loves the traditions and now that she has her own daughter, her excitement has increased.  Her younger sister, Bri, is hard to read.  Like my son, she does not show excitement about much. I think she likes it all, but she acts as if she can take or leave it.  LOL  Lyriq is much like MeeMee,  he loves it all.  And last night, he reminded me of how much I have been slipping this past year.

My heart just has not been into it like past years.  My mind has been elsewhere. The lack of finances to back my ideas really put a damper on things.  Instead of feeling excitement as holidays approached, I started feeling anxiety.  Lots of ideas still popped into my head, but my energy level and ability to follow through were minimal at best.  I have been low on finances before and that is usually when my creativity has kicked in.  My creativity abandoned me this year - when I needed it most. :-(

Lyriq's birthday was this past week.  I did make him a cake, but it was not the usual character cake that I spend days planning.  It was his own personalized devil's food cake, which he loves.  But, it did not have the effort that I usually put into it.  He did not say anything about it, but he ate very little.  On his birthday, he had a great day out with his mom and cousin who is close in age.  But, it was not the usual hoorah that my mother and I plan.  Last night, he talked about the excitement of past birthdays with such happiness in his voice.  He said he wanted a party like Rico's graduation party.  It made me feel really bad.  Several factors played a part in his birthday not being what he is used to, but I could have done better if I was not in such a funk.  We are going out to celebrate today and I plan to make him the center of attention, which he loves.  Mark my word - next year, I am going all out on his birthday.

I need to get back into the swing of things.  Not only for them, but for me.  Although Rico will probably not be here, I will carry on his Halloween tradition of the yard haunt.  People (children AND adults) look forward to see how we have expanded every year.  Lyriq would usually go trick-or-treating and come home early to pass out candy.  Last year, he skipped trick-or-treating all together and joined the crew as one of the big boys who sent girls and boys running and screaming from the yard.  We are going to do Rico proud this year. Planning needs to start in September and I will ask Lyriq to be the leader...Bri too...if she's interested.  Hopefully, she will surprise me.  She is crazy talented and creative. I would be thrilled if she would lend all of that to the future of family traditions.

Now that MeeMee has Mar, I know she will be energized and very instrumental in keeping up with the traditions.  Mar will be almost 2, so she will be able to fully enjoy all of the festivities surrounding the holidays. I need to start thinking about which ornament to get each grand & great-grand to represent their year - another tradition started 17 years ago.   Just writing this has lifted my spirits.  I may have to return to this post every now and then to remind of what I need to do.  But if I happen to forget,  I am sure Lyriq will remind me. :-)