Altered Tradition Poem by Jim Yerman

Our Christmas plans are finalized…this year we will celebrate…
our Christmas not on Christmas…but December 28.

Our family has some Christmas traditions that when we blended together we created…
The first is we chose Christmas Eve as the day our Christmas would be celebrated.

The second is we order pizza…always Dominoes supplied…
(That's what happens when for Christmas dinner you ask your children to decide!)

This would become our Christmas tradition…at least that's what we believed…
We'd eat pizza, open presents and play games on Christmas Eve.

It was a tradition that worked for years…Christmas Eve was our Christmas Day…
until Ali got married, Ryan moved out…and Bryan moved away.

Suddenly our little blended family from all those years ago…
with jobs, friends, girlfriends and grandchildren…began to grow…and grow…and grow.

So our Christmas tradition had to change…this we happily concede…
and now we celebrate our Christmas on a date that all our schedules have agreed.

Oh we still order pizza, open gifts, play some games (and now call Bryan) on the new date we arrange…
because some traditions are just too beautiful…too time-honored to ever change.

But that doesn't mean in future Christmases…there might come a time when…
do to circumstances beyond our control…we alter our tradition again.

For we have found it's not the tradition itself that's important…how this is but a myth…
what makes a tradition special is who we spend that tradition with.

So this year we will follow our old Christmas traditions on the new date December 28th
adhering as close as we can to those first traditions we created…
but we'll also be ready next year…if our traditions need updated.