Without meaning to, every family develops traditions. They aren't limited to any particular time of the year or special occasions.
Family traditions can last for unbelievable lengths of time as long as someone likes to talk about their own memories and stories they've heard from older family members. In our family, that someone is me - Sarah Anne Burns Atkins.Not all traditions are heartwarming. Some are downright silly.
For instance, my parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles were likely to say, without warning, "Twelve o'clock, Wheeler Thomas," and burst into laughter. When I was old enough to notice, I finally asked who Wheeler Thomas was. As it turns out, no one knew and that's what was so funny. My Uncle Virgil had suddenly sat up in bed in the middle of the night, made this statement, and promptly went back to sleep. Aunt Milly told on him and he swore he did not know anyone named Wheeler Thomas.
Other traditions come from our heritage. The now-oldest Atkins boy, Carl, has a German heritage from the Ulbrich family who came to America in the late 1870s. Although his family didn't practice it, one German tradition is hanging a pickle ornament on the Christmas tree. The person who finds it gets an extra gift. This became part of our Christmas tradition when we unexpectedly found such an ornament one year. It was actually made in Germany.
The other part of this tradition at our house is that the same person, miraculously, always finds the pickle – Greg. It started when he was very small and continues. A calamity almost occurred last year when he couldn't find it. It seems that the traditional ornament didn't make it out of the attic and some enterprising person hung a real pickle on the tree. Suddenly, Greg was in a pickle! It took a lot of coaching for the Atkins family to continue this particular tradition. Although he is now 21 years old, Greg goes along with it. He'd never want to be responsible for ending a family tradition that he can tell his own children about someday. Especially since he'll, undoubtedly, inherit the Atkins family pickle.
