L'Shana Tova...A time for traditions~New and Old :)

I look around my kitchen...looking for them, and I feel them all around me.  As I cook and I prepare for Rosh Hashana, just as I have for the last 20 something years I realize that this is so completely different.  I takes me a half a second to figure it out...I am the grandma now (OK Nana).  I know I was a Grandma last year but the difference between having an 8 month old vs a 20 month old granddaughter is night and day.  This one moves, runs, jumps, empties cupboards...but best of all wants to be Nanas helper.  Is this where traditions start?  This young?  All I know is that my earliest memory of the holidays is spending one day in Nanas kitchen cupboards playing with a purple plastic watering can and the next day spending the afternoon in Grandma Esthers backyard picking apples...or crabapples...whatever they were, it was fun!  I walk into my kitchen with Lucy, and the first thing she walks to is my snack drawer for a granola bar.  This is a "thing" already.  She knows where Nanas snacks are.  Can I consider this a tradition?  Sure, why not?  Many memories are being made in this tiny little head of hers.

     So as she is playing intently in the tupperware, I am peeling carrots.  Before I know it she is staring up at me with the "uppie" face.  We slide a stool over to wear I am so that she can watch, but that just isn't enough.  She wants to be part of this dinner prep!  As she grabs for my veggie peeler, I swap it with a very "not" sharp plastic round spoon.  Next I hear a "pease" as she looks at the carrots so of coarse I give her one and she starts peeling away and putting them in the bowl. (this is where I say "Great Job!" and put them back in the unpeeled pile) At this point I realize it...I am not only a Nana, but I am a Nana creating traditions and memories.  How did I get here?  When did this happen?  Wasn't I just the one sitting on the floor playing, watching this magical holiday meal come to life by my grandmas and my mom?

  Creating traditions and not letting them end takes a lot of hard work, time, and commitment. Today, most families are very spread out throughout the country and even the world.  This is where we need to take initiative to make our own memories with friends who become family, and strangers who become friends...and eventually family.  Making sure that Lucy and our future grandchildren have a base of what holidays, happiness and love is all about, is just about as important to me as them learning about their heritage and why what we do is so important.  Whether it be with blood relatives or our closest friends, these are the things that count.

 Today Lucy and I started a new tradition.  We went to temple together...Just Lucy and Nana.  I'm not sure that she knew the difference between opening the ark and opening her fruit snacks, however I do know that she took it all in!

 She gave her prayer book "kisses" as the Rabbi brought the Torah by her, and she clapped with such enthusiasm to songs that she will hear year after year.  I have always made our religous traditions such an important part of life for our kids, something that is now up to them to carry on. None the less, I feel that it is still going to be a commitment of mine to keep forever.

L'Shana Tova to you all...Wishing you all a Sweet New Year!

Happiness is the byproduct of a meaningful life.

רֹאשׁ הַשָּׁנָה

Sweet Year

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May you be inscribed for a sweet year filled with good health, prosperity