STROLL HOLIDAY WISH LIST

my side, usually. Traditions are hard to squeeze in.

LIFE IN THE DAD LANE Tradition-ISH

BY RESIDENT SCOTT CASTELLANOS

The holidays are upon us and with that comes traditions.

I am someone that has always been on the fence about traditions. I appreciate and enjoy some, but I do not like to be bound by them either. My family is a fly by the seat of their pants kind of crew. If you have read Life in the Dad Lane

over the years, you know we are always busy and on the go, so it is not always easy to stick to traditions fully. We feel it is important to keep them alive as best we can, but we are realistic in knowing that we have some hurdles to clear.

First hurdle is TIME. I don’t care what the Rolling Stones sang, time is not on

Second hurdle, ENTHUSIASM. My kids, like most teenagers, find everything boring and, let’s face it, a lot of traditions can be boring, by today’s standards.

Third hurdle, PLEASING EVERYONE. As you know, you can’t, so that means someone will have an issue with something.

To address these and the many other unnamed hurdles, we have taken the approach of only holding ourselves to the “spirit of the tradition”. Meaning, if we can’t do it on the day it is supposed to be, we do it when we can. If it isn’t fun, we add some fun by

any means necessary, including bribes, adding silliness and, of course, adult beverages. As far as pleasing everybody, hopefully that was addressed by the preceding steps and if not, we have adopted the old tried-and-true approach of “too bad, so sad” and “fake it till you make it”.

that has stuck and that is cutting down our Christmas tree. This one really hasn’t had to deal with the hurdles. We drive to the country; we cut down a tree, sing Christmas songs, drink hot cocoa, and we all look forward to it. Knock on wood.

you can’t be traditional, be TRADITION-ISH.