Today we finally made our long awaited trip to the pumpkin patch just in time for Halloween. We don't really even carve pumpkins anymore, but we love the trip to the patch to run around the fields, see all the photos happening, and of course bring home a trunk full of gourds and pumpkins.
We have been visiting Gordon Skagit Farms in Mt. Vernon for years now. This year it was just Steve, Samantha and I. But we found out that Kate and her boyfriend Nick had already made their pilgrimage there and have filled their shelves at home with cute little pumpkins and gourds. A tradition passed on.
Do you adhere to traditions? Do you follow ones that your family did, or have you come up with your own? My own parents weren't huge on them. Sure, we carved pumpkins like everyone else, and trick or treated. But beyond that there wasn't a lot that we did every year.
I have found that I love traditions, especially ones that our little family has made on it's own. It makes sense to us living in the area we do to make a trip to the fields and see the beauty of fall around us. It feels wonderful to go to the tree farm and cut down our own tree even if it's a small one, and knowing that after you haul it home theres a hot cocoa waiting.
I find that this year things seem especially sweet with Samantha being in her Senior year and Kate having moved out. Traditions are either changing or are at an end. Will Steve and I make the trip to the pumpkin patch next year on our own? Or maybe with Kate and Nick. It makes my breath hitch to think about how much has changed!
With all the preparations for college these traditions have given us some structure and nomalacy when things feel so different and new. Sam still picked out her weird gourds. We took lots of silly photos. We walked around the fields enjoying the photo shoots happening all around us of little ones with their families. We will still have pumpkins on the porch.
And when they don't serve us anymore we'll make changes to our traditions, like we have with Thanksgiving. When we decided it was to be just our little family we took ourselves to yurts and had our Thanksgiving there. We bend tradition to serve us and make our lives richer. We may end up back at the yurts again this year. That may become our new tradition.
How do you feel about doing things year after year? Do you find comfort in the familiar? Do you have anything you are especially excited about in the coming holiday season? Or any suggestions for us with regards to Thanksgiving? I'd love to hear your thoughts or any interesting traditions!
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