Some of our Weird, Wacky, and Fun Family Traditions

Since we didn't do anything unusual today we thought we'd share some of our family traditions with ya'll. As our grandmother says "Everybody loves their own weird family", and we find that to be very true. Recently we had a family staying with us in transition between houses and as one of their little boys remarked when he saw us rough-housing, " Ya'll are really weird." We love the family God has given us. Yes, even all the unusual things we do. For instance: every time we have a meal with extended family and you ask for a roll to be passed, you'd better have quick reflexes, for we don't pass the rolls, we throw them. Another strange thing is what we call "pushing matches". Let us explain: Each participant has a partner and they each plant their feet firmly on the floor and on the count of 3 begin to push each other. The first person to move their feet loses. But not all our traditions are strange: Today we bought our first two bags of candy corn. Ever since we were little, Mama has filled a glass pumpkin-shaped jar with the candy, and it has marked the beginning of the fall for us. Now Sarah and I each have a pumpkin jar in our hopechests, waiting to be used with the families the Lord will bless us with in the future.
We love having Mama read aloud to us, we love having advent time during the Christmas season. Camping (and getting rained on each time) is another tradition, dating back at least from Dad's dad. If you know our family for even a little while, you will find that we all love to be funny, and play tricks on people. Naturally, that leaves April Fool's as one of our favorite occasions!
We love playing jokes on people and making them believe us! (Hee-hee-hee `diabolical laughter')
Dad has played a game called "alligator" with each of us as little ones. In this game he lays in the middle of the floor and pretends to be an alligator in a swamp that will catch us if we come too close. Maybe that's why we get a thrill out of trying to sneak up on someone unobserved! :)
I don't mean to make it sound like we are some wacko-family who never does anything serious, but hey, "a merry heart doeth good like medicine" is a famous verse from Proverbs, and we are not a family prone to getting sick! (well, there was that time.....) anyhow!
For every major holiday we have a tradition of making sugar cookies and somehow, even though we use the same recipe each time, each season's tastes different. Each baby at some point along the way, when they're sitting on the floor in the middle of the kitchen, gets endowed with the "cabbage leaf hat" which is literally a cabbage leaf. WhoDuThunk? But, one of the traditions we loved the most was when Mom or Dad would sing to us while putting us to bed. Some of the favorite songs were from Michael Card's C.D., Sleep Sound in Jesus, He is our Peace, The Fox Went Out On a Chilly Night, and I Had Me a Cat. We've continued this tradition maybe a bit too much with Abby and Grace by singing them to sleep almost every night, and hope to continue it with our children when we grow up.
Well, since it really is late: 10:50, and we do have a whole day of bush-hogging tomorrow, we'll say good night and wish we were still young enough to have Mama sing us to sleep!:)