![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
memoir writing prompt #5
Jun. 10th, 2007 10:25 pmRelate one cherished ritual (besides the food ritual in the previous writing) that makes you smile in your memory.
Birthday's were always very important while growing up in my family. With such a large family, we didn't get "new" things throughout the year. Christmas, back-to-school shopping, and birthdays were the only occasion throughout the year where we were given new clothes, toys, or whatever we may have needed. Note the use of the word needed. Both Christmas and birthday's were also occasions for my mom to get us the things we were in need of. If we needed a new pair of shoes or new jeans, and it was close to Christmas, we could expect to get just those items. Receiving underwear or socks for Christmas was not something to be disappointed about; it was just a fact of life.
However, as magical as Christmas always is, birthdays were more special for many reasons. Of course, this was the one day a year when it was all about ME! I didn't have to share the spot light with any of the five other kids in the family. I was the main attraction :)
I'm going to pause here, I need to run to walmart for MIL.
to be continued...
ok, I'm back. I got Circus Peanuts while at the store. I'm still over-indulging myself, trying to "catch up" on all the good stuff I missed while in China.
Ok, back to writing:
Butter played a very important part in our family's birthday ritual. No, this isn't a weird Mormon thing, it is actually an old family tradition passed down from my father's grandfather. On your birthday, you could always expect someone to try and smear a chunk of butter on your nose. The butter attack always came at a time least expected, usually right at the end of the singing of "Happy Birthday". It was a delightful, yet dreaded part of the day. Of course, I never wanted anyone to forget the butter on my nose. Still, if I saw anyone coming towards me with the butter I had to run in the other direction. It was an equally important part of the tradition to try and avoid the butter. One year, when my dad and his brothers were still kids, one of them decided he was not going to allow himself to be butter, no matter what. The rest of the brothers took this as a direct challenge to their buttering ability and before long, a full fledged attack had been launched. Each brother had a stick of butter in his hand, with the birthday boy fleeing before them. By the time he'd been caught, most of the butter sticks had melted in their hands, leaving quite a mess around the house. I'm sure their mom wasn't pleased, but it sure makes for a good story.
With my own kids, I've changed the tradition a bit. We smear icing on noses instead of butter. My oldest son, Zack, has a real aversion to lotions and creams and he freaked out the first time we tried to butter his nose. For some reason, icing was much more acceptable. The best part is that my husband has adopted this tradition as his own, too. He always makes sure that every year, I get a nice big glob of butter or icing on my nose. I love it.
Birthday's were always very important while growing up in my family. With such a large family, we didn't get "new" things throughout the year. Christmas, back-to-school shopping, and birthdays were the only occasion throughout the year where we were given new clothes, toys, or whatever we may have needed. Note the use of the word needed. Both Christmas and birthday's were also occasions for my mom to get us the things we were in need of. If we needed a new pair of shoes or new jeans, and it was close to Christmas, we could expect to get just those items. Receiving underwear or socks for Christmas was not something to be disappointed about; it was just a fact of life.
However, as magical as Christmas always is, birthdays were more special for many reasons. Of course, this was the one day a year when it was all about ME! I didn't have to share the spot light with any of the five other kids in the family. I was the main attraction :)
I'm going to pause here, I need to run to walmart for MIL.
to be continued...
ok, I'm back. I got Circus Peanuts while at the store. I'm still over-indulging myself, trying to "catch up" on all the good stuff I missed while in China.
Ok, back to writing:
Butter played a very important part in our family's birthday ritual. No, this isn't a weird Mormon thing, it is actually an old family tradition passed down from my father's grandfather. On your birthday, you could always expect someone to try and smear a chunk of butter on your nose. The butter attack always came at a time least expected, usually right at the end of the singing of "Happy Birthday". It was a delightful, yet dreaded part of the day. Of course, I never wanted anyone to forget the butter on my nose. Still, if I saw anyone coming towards me with the butter I had to run in the other direction. It was an equally important part of the tradition to try and avoid the butter. One year, when my dad and his brothers were still kids, one of them decided he was not going to allow himself to be butter, no matter what. The rest of the brothers took this as a direct challenge to their buttering ability and before long, a full fledged attack had been launched. Each brother had a stick of butter in his hand, with the birthday boy fleeing before them. By the time he'd been caught, most of the butter sticks had melted in their hands, leaving quite a mess around the house. I'm sure their mom wasn't pleased, but it sure makes for a good story.
With my own kids, I've changed the tradition a bit. We smear icing on noses instead of butter. My oldest son, Zack, has a real aversion to lotions and creams and he freaked out the first time we tried to butter his nose. For some reason, icing was much more acceptable. The best part is that my husband has adopted this tradition as his own, too. He always makes sure that every year, I get a nice big glob of butter or icing on my nose. I love it.