Holiday Traditions
My family celebrates Christmas and it’s a big deal. We’re into decorations, gift giving and… traditions.
I hadn’t realized how important those traditions are to my own two teenagers until we started decorating our house this season. We’ve lived in the same house for 15 years, so every Christmas item has its usual place. My daughter asked for a reminder about where a stuffed snowman usually goes.
“On that table,” I pointed, “but you can put it wherever you want.”
The world stopped spinning.
My daughter looked at me as if I were an alien. “Uh, no,” she said. “If it belongs on this table, that’s where it goes.”
I got to thinking about why that snowman had to be on that table. The only reason? That’s where I first put it 15 years ago because, well, the table was just there. Not exactly mythic symbolism.
But the symbolism grew over time, and the placement of the snowman became sacred.
I wonder if we think our writing should be like that all the time: sacred, symbolic, infused with importance. I’m not saying it shouldn’t be, but like my snowman, maybe we don’t have to put so much pressure on ourselves to make it like that. Maybe, as writers, we can just write—because the words are, like my table, just there.
I smile every time I see the snowman now. It’s become symbolic for me, too: no need to put pressure on myself as a writer.