tradition is big this time of year.

So we have this tradition the day of Thanksgiving, after the dinner, after the walk, after the naps - we have a late dinner snack type meal and listen to the Charlie Brown Christmas album. It's nothing big, outstanding like some families I know that start the Christmas decorations while the tryptophan is still coursing through their veins. It's just one CD of Christmas music, and it starts the feeling of the whole season perfectly. Other seasonal traditions include watching A Christmas Story (because it so perfectly defines my family), wishing it was snowing (because I miss the snow and Wisconsin and my youth), and watching It's A Wonderful Life on Christmas Eve. We also eat a ridiculous amount of hot chocolate, pumpkin pie, and a concoction my father likes to call "Turkey Dip" - it's just cold turkey and ketchup, and it is delicious.
A note on the season, the tradition, the whole she-bang. I'm not religious. I don't celebrate Christmas the way my parents do. I celebrate the season, yes, but not the meaning of the holiday. Christmas for me is making other people happy, spending time with my family, and just embracing the feeling that people are trying harder to be nice for a change. And this CD, the whole "It's Christmas, Charlie Brown!", I don't know, just kind of gives that feeling. We've done it as long as I can remember, and it is how I define the beginning of Christmas, and really, of winter.
Not sure why I felt like sharing that, but I did. Welcome to the tradition of my family.