I look forward to our local Pumpkin Festival every year. Since becoming a mother, it marks the passage of time for me. We made our first visit to the festival when Selby was four months old. We propped her up in the pumpkin patch for a photo and a tradition was born.
The following year, we went back and it was a whole new world. Selby (16 mo.) ran all over the pumpkin patch, visited the petting zoo and danced to the country music. She too was captivated.
At two, Selby rode a pony, painted a gourd and traversed the mini corn maze.
Last year, Selby (3 yrs.) rode the tractor-pulled kiddie train and gobbled up pumpkin ice cream and pumpkin pie (me too at 9 months pregnant!). Too bad my photos of this day were lost in a computer crash. This year, we introduced our newest little pumpkin to the festival! Sage (11 mo.) experienced her first pumpkin patch photo shoot with 4-year-old Selby... and the cycle begins again.
The fun, the food, the photos - it's all a part of the richness of the Pumpkin Festival. But it's the custom itself that I love so. It serves as a yearly reminder to be present in the moment, to be grateful for the blessings of the past year, and to look forward to the opportunities of the year to come. This is the beauty of tradition, which promises some constancy in an ever-evolving world. I'd love to hear what family traditions you have and what they mean to you.
I look forward to our local Pumpkin Festival every year. Since becoming a mother, it marks the passage of time for me. We made our first visit to the festival when Selby was four months old. We propped her up in the pumpkin patch for a photo and a tradition was born.
4 comments:
The blonde pumpkins in the patch are especially beautiful! What a lovely chronicle and your post really reminds us how fast time does fly. Nana
My favorite family traditions are passing around the egg before Easter dinner sharing something nice about the person next to you; passing the Christmas Wafer (polish tradition -Apoutke?sp?) at Christmas Eve dinner wishing good blessings to the person next to you; opening gifts among the siblings Christmas Eve (+ one more) and playing mother may I to go out into the living room for the tree once mom and dad were up - we loved opening our stockings at 6am while waiting for the tree part; there are many that ROb and I have as well that are more cute and quaint and personal - I absolutely LOVE traditions. The ritual and the feelings every time you celebrate them is so heartwarming. I hear that someone near and dear to us says its a tradition to have a funnel cake at the pumpkin festival every year too!!! :)
sweet pictures!
what cutie pies!
thinking about traditions...most of ours are daily traditions like saying a blessing to give our thanks for our family, our food, the farmers who grow it.
but this time of year, we participate in the Halloween Parade in our local park, Washington Market Park, and go trick-or-treating, urban-style, at the many neighborhood stores who hand out tricks and treats.
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