I love social media! Through Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, I've been able to communicate with literally hundreds of people throughout the world. I especially love it during the holidays, because it gives me a glimpse into the traditions and lives of my new friends. Traditions are the rituals we all do year after year and carry on generation after generation without question. We just do them "because it's always been this way".
When Cams and I got married, we decided to start our own traditions. I think every married couple does this because you need to make something your own. Those early years, we didn't really do much outside of go for a drive to look at lights and have crab legs for Christmas Dinner. We always celebrated Christmas Day with just the 2 of us. We often talked of the days to come when we would have kids about how we would handle the holidays and what traditions we would start.
When I was diagnosed with mesothelioma just after Lily was born, we didn't have the time or energy to start any new traditions that year. We just numbly plodded through the holiday. We did our best to try and make it special for Lily's first Christmas, but we could not ignore the shadow of mesothelioma looming over us. I still feel a little melancholy every year when I put her “Babies First Christmas” ornament on our tree.
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Through the next few months following surgery and treatments, the holidays were upon us again. I was finished in all my treatments and we decided to celebrate Christmas in a big way that year. We had MUCH to be thankful for. We started a new tradition of my parents coming out to our home for the holiday, instead of us going to my childhood home. They know the importance of starting one’s own traditions and they wanted to continue to be a part of Lily's life. That year, my mom and I baked tons of my favorite cookies and Lily was old enough to (sort of) help. We still do this every year when she arrives.
Read more: http://www.mesothelioma.com/blog/authors/heather/treatments-thanks-traditions.htm#ixzz2ILEB4lFW
