traditions hold a strange fascination for me. for most of my life i'd felt relatively tradition-immune. when other people would talk about this family tradition or that family tradition, i would imagine some sort of group-participation OCD( "we simply must touch every banister on the staircase and eat ambrosia. it's a family tradition"). i would rest smug in the notion that at least i'm not so lame as to feel compelled to wake up early to watch giant balloons float down some street in new york.

then i got old.

i realize now that you can't really avoid traditions, nor can you easily fabricate them. you find yourself doing something because it makes you feel good, because it reminds you of how you felt when you were a kid, because you see others enjoying it as much as you did and that makes you happy.

sure, my traditions are every bit as lame as those i historically derided in others. i'm not gonna watch the Longhorns stomp the Aggies (yet again), but i really really need to watch "Planes, Trains and Automobiles" on Thanksgiving day. on christmas eve i don't sing carols with my family and drink eggnog, hell, i don't even really celebrate christmas, but i really really need to eat a plate of my mother's stroganoff, just like i did last christmas eve and every other christmas eve for my entire life.

yes, i still think your traditions are lame. but yes, now i know, i have traditions and they are lame, too. probably lamer.

have a happy thanksgiving (if you're into that sort of thing).

- skorloff