Family Rituals – Day 1 For Series

Every year on New Year’s Eve my Daddy would make ice cream sodas. Man oh man would he ever make the best tasting sodas ever. He would first put a spoonful of vanilla ice cream in a tall glass. Pour some pop in.   It would be either strawberry or orange. Honestly I couldn’t tell you which one I loved the most. They both were so yummy!!! He mixed the ice cream and pop real well until it was blended together nice and thick. In a half full glass he would add more ice cream up to the rim. Very slowly he’d then pour pop until the glass was full with over flowing bubbly foam.

I remember Momma setting out ice cream spoons with long handles and colorful straws!!! She still has these pretty silver spoons that I use every time I have ice-cream with her. I loved those moments with my Dad. This was our family ritual.

It’s been almost two years that my Dad passed away. My six and five year old daughter had an opportunity to make ice – cream sodas with my Dad. I have the pictures of them next to their Grandpa watching every move he made just like I used too. In honor of my Dad, I would like to continue this ritual every New Year’s Eve.

Not only did we enjoy ice-cream in our sodas, my Dad let us have ice-cream every night before we went to bed. I can remember feeling excited when my Dad set the carton of ice-cream out on the table so it would soften. After about 20 minutes he would dish it up in nice bowls and serve us while we sat on the couch in our pajamas. I loved those moments because it brought us all together. We talked and shared stories. My voice mattered. If I had a bad day it disappeared. Oh how I miss that time with my Mom and Dad.

I hope that my Husband and I create warm loving rituals that our children will cherish all the days of their lives. Now we go to my Moms house every Sunday after church. And guess what she serves her Grand Kids? She serves them ice cream.   They sit and eat at the very same table I sat at with my Dad and Mom growing up.

My Dad liked ice cream so much that when we went on our yearly camping trips he would by us one or two ice cream cones a day at Mc Donald’s. It sure made those long driving days across the country so much better. The views were nice most of the time. The land was flat a lot.   And sometimes when we went driving through one corn field after another the only thing I could think of was ice – cream. Thank goodness he never got mad at us for asking him a million times if we were there yet.

My husband and I are starting to have some of our own family rituals. One of our favorites is watching Americas Funniest Home Videos before we put the kids down for bed. We all snuggle up on the couch and laugh our heads off. The kids get mad at us if one of us is doing something else rather than sitting with them.

Justin and Kaylee miss their Grandpa. It’s healing to my soul to share my childhood memories with them. Someday I will be gone too. But they will have memories too to share. Please join me Tuesday for another story about rituals. My friend Abby will be my guest speaker.

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