Everyone has traditions that mark major occurrences or dates in our lives. Around our table, we celebrate birthdays at lunchtime. Usually, the cook prepares pizza and a salad and there's always a cake. But when it comes to the cook's birthday, there's a slightly different tradition.
Since she spends each day caring for us, we take this opportunity to care for her. We don't allow her to cook a thing for lunch. Instead we (the rest of the people around the table) each do our part to prepare a part of the meal. We never know from one year to the next exactly what we'll come up with but each time we do it there's something new, and that's part of what makes this celebration so wonderful.
This year, we split up the responsibilities. I made dessert, while our seminarian intern took charge of preparing the main dish. Someone else took charge of setting the table and before we knew it, all the pieces had fallen in place. Celebrating birthdays (and other special occasions) is an important part of community building here, and it can be whereever you are too. Pay attention to the opportunities to do little things that make big differences. That's where the memories are created; that's where they should be celebrated.
2 comments:
Traditions around family gatherings have been more focused on mass food consumption instead of valueing time together. I'm going to commit to influeing tradition by demonstrating to others how much I value their time over the holidays...and I may partake in the mass consumption anyway! Don't want to change too much at once. Thanks for the blog.
Aren't we here to forge relationships? Time with others, creating memories and making a real difference in the lives of others - that is what it is all about.
By the way, if you serve that kind of cake during Lent, what kind of cake would you make for my birthday?
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