Transitions in Traditions

Fall is here and the mums and pumpkins are on the front porch, the mantel is decorated with grape vine, small pumpkins and gourds. That's all great and wonderful except for the fact that this is the second year in a row that we haven't carved pumpkins with the kids. Of course I do realize that we were still carving pumpkins up until they left for college! It has been a tradition to go shopping for pumpkins together and let each of the kids pick out their pumpkin. We would cover the kitchen table in newspaper and they would carve their faces and then make fun of each others pumpkins. Halloween parties for the kids has been a tradition at our house for several years until last year, since there were no kids at home! Adjusting to the kids not being at home hasn't been easy but I have decided that if the kids are happy, then I'm happy. I really miss seeing all of their friends and having a house full of kids. The girls loved having parties but Matt really wasn't too excited about having a party. I was always offering to let Matt have a Halloween party but since he didn't want to, Matt's friends would say that they would have a party at our house and that Matt could come if he wanted to. So that's what we did! Matt didn't invite anyone to the party but we had over 100 kids at the last Halloween party.
This year I'm going to have a family Halloween party since I love to have parties. My mother used to have family Halloween parties for the family and I think I should continue the tradition even though she won't be here to enjoy it. Traditions change over the years as our kids grow up and our parents get old and die. But, I think it's very important to continue traditions even though it's easier not to. Traditions are important to children, even if the child that loves Halloween parties is now almost 50 years old! I hope I never grow up.