What will they remember?

Last night after all the kids were tucked in bed with their ipods, lap tops, and psp's....I had a moment to think about our Christmas and the reoccuring thought was "what will they remember?" It is a thought that pops into my mind alot because I was so very blessed to have an amazing childhood, surrounded by family that cherished traditions and being together...as an adult I often struggle so hard with trying to recreate those traditons for my own children, I want so badly for them to look back and remember certain things so vividly that they feel they could reach out and touch them. The reality is that I will never know what they will choose to remember when they are adults, it is my hope that they will look back and remember a family that despite all of our faults and shortcomings we tried hard to create our own special tradtions...even if those traditions were different from my own.

The other day I was unpacking a ceraminc Christmas tree from it's box, the same box my Grandmother used for over 30 years to place it back in the attic and the smell of the box and the tissue paper instantly brought me back to being a child and helping her decorate and put away her decorations so carefully...I will bet that the tissue paper is the same and the newspaper was dated 1986...as I was standing in my garage putting the tree together I realized that it is not the tree that she made sure to wrap so carefully every year but more likely it was the importance of the memory that she was trying to preserve for her grandchildren...she was most likely thinking the same thoughts that I have been thinking, "how will my children and grandchildren remember me and am I doing enough to make sure they have memories to cherish?" What I have learned is it's the simple things we do without even realizing it that make their marks on our memories and in our hearts, it's the smell of old Christmas tissue paper, the beautiful plate with the small chip on the side that we put our Christmas cookies on...the worn out box that we tape over and over again to put the ornaments back into, year after year....we are all broken and chipped a little, a little worn out this time of year but it is the unwrapping of ourselves every year to share with others that we will remember, it is what I want my children to remember most, that when we give of ourselves is when we are the richest....Nora has just begun her journey with us in som many ways, her memories along with her siblings will belong only to them, and that is how it should be...they will have their own stories to tell and I hope their memories of Christmases past will fill them with a sense of love and comfort, just like that old box of tissue and newspaper does for me every year.

Happy New Year,
Kelly