'The Family Stone'

Do you have traditions unbound by date?  A tradition established by situation?  We do...and I sorta love it.  *scratches the word ‘sorta’ from prior sentence*

I had a ‘prior-to-meeting Caleb tradition’ of watching The Family Stone on or around the first snow of the season.  It may have been the first free night after the first snow, I am not sure all these years later.  However when I met Caleb, that first winter, when it snowed, he ‘introduced’ me to his tradition of watching The Family Stone.  He then shared this story of wanting it to be a family tradition to watch it together...and then we segway into sharing dreams and shared visions for what a collective future would look like together.

A few years later, I made some vague reference to watching the movie years prior to meeting Caleb and it was met with a ‘NO I WATCHED THE FAMILY STONE FOR YEARS BEFORE’. He proceeded to get into a tangent how that was a family tradition he initiated (which is 100% true).

 ...and it was one of those moments, where I felt Caleb dial-in and double-down on advocating for something of our family he was proud of.  It.was.so.freaking.cute.  I just let him rant about it and smiled, both on my face and in my heart.

Tonight was the first night it snowed, where the snow stuck to the ground.  It might be super chilly, but the night hosted a family viewing of The Family Stone. It’s one of those traditions that has evolved and now means a bunch of things...blending goals for family building, for pride in having established traditions, the memory of the first viewing, the memory of the advocacy, the annual b-plot tradition of always laughing at the strata scene together, knowing we come together for those cozy romantic nights that get priority in the week (who knows when it will first snow every year!). 

Hell...I’m smiling now as I write this.  My little family tradition enforcer, my husband Caleb, just knows all the sappy little moments that melt my heart...always, it seems.

#reflection #warmwinters #tradition #bettertogether #thefamilystone #buildalifenotaresume #sappyhappy #happyhusbandhappyhome