My husband is really into tradition. I mean, REALLY into tradition. Actually, the very first post I wrote was about how he buys green bagels every St. Patty’s Day: https://williamssyndromesmile.com/2013/03/17/green-bagel-morning/

He doesn’t just keep old traditions alive, though. He also spontaneously creates new ones! I was heading home with the kids when he called to say that he put the holiday lights on the house and wanted Charlotte and Emmy to turn them on when we arrived.

“It will be a tradition!” he declared.

I love that Dan doesn’t live by the same imaginary rule book that I have in my head. My rule book says that I preserve the traditions that were handed down to me, but I don’t create new ones. Who am I to create a tradition? Those things were carefully thought out by my ancestors! But Dan has no qualms about creating a tradition TODAY.

And I’m ashamed to say that I kind of brush them off (sorry, babe). Traditions are not as weighty for me. I have a few precious traditions surrounding Christmas that remind me of childhood but, other than those, I don’t really think about traditions for the rest of the year.

Over the weekend, I found myself really appreciating the fact that Dan keeps traditions alive when we got the tree and decorated it. And as the kids put ornaments on the tree, I was so aware of how this tradition forces you to be present. It forces you to put down the phone, look at every ornament, tell stories about the ornaments, find the perfect branch, take photos to capture the moment, admire how your daughter is so careful with the precious ornaments when just last year she would’ve been the opposite, notice how your daughter carefully stands on the stool to reach the top branches, and realize how much taller she is than the year before. When you’re decorating the tree, you are forced to be in the moment.

How many times do I swear I’ll appreciate every moment–and then still let all of them pass me by?

And how many times do I swear I will PUT DOWN MY PHONE…and then will see it calling to me from the table?

“Put it down, woman!” I want to shout. “Put it down!” Because when I’m looking at my phone, I am anywhere but in the moment.

I think it doesn’t matter so much when I’m in the check-out at the grocery store and the person in front of me has 1,000 bags of candy to ring up, and I am just passing the time by looking at my phone. I think it DOES matter a lot when my kids need my undivided attention.

On Saturday, I was at a kids’ gym with Emmy, waiting for her class to start. I was watching the previous class wrap-up through the large, glass windows. And here was a boy, probably less than 1 year old, throwing a ball to his dad. And here was his dad, looking at his phone. The ball just fell in his dad’s lap, and he didn’t even notice his son’s effort. Ugh. What are we becoming?

So if traditions, like decorating the tree, do nothing more than force me to put down the phone and be present, then I am incredibly grateful that my husband creates new traditions every week. The more, the merrier! This time with our kids is precious and fleeting. The celebrity gossip and articles with snarky comments that I read on my phone will be around forever.