The moment we've all been waiting for...
I cut my bangs again :) Not straight across like I had this past year or curly like I let them be this summer, just my standard winter side bang that I have to continue to blow dry and straighten until they grow out.
This is a yearly routine for me in the fall/winter and I let them grow out by summer. This has me thinking about other traditions I have around this time of year. As previously mentioned, I'm a very sentimental person. Change is hard, especially when it's deeply entrenched in family. One thing that hasn't changed is my extended family getting together over Thanksgiving here in Rochester. The 6 kids and their spouses and the 12 grandkids and now 1 great-grandkid reunite for potatoes, stuffing, football, and catch up time. A welcome change recently has been trading book recommendations. The youngest grandkid is now in college (YAY HANNAH go SLU!) which also brings a bit of a change. We're inevitably missing 1 or 2 people for one reason or another, but in the spirit of the holiday we find connection after sometimes a year of being apart- with plenty of pictures from multiple phones and digital cameras and one cousin yelling "Y'all got email?"
Another tradition for me is Olive Garden or Victoria's for my birthday dinner and a Dairy Queen ice cream cake for dessert. It doesn't stop me that the closest one closes for the winter- which means sometimes a drive to Byron. What can I say, I'm a creature of habit!
And last but certainly not least is the tradition of having an Eau Claire friends reunion weekend. Sometimes it turns into Friendsgiving and sometimes it just stays a "let's wander around campus and go to our favorite stores and restaurants and grocery stores." This year I'm excited for puzzle time, being with friends I haven't seen in too long, playing Dutch Blitz, trying a new taco place, eating brunch at the Nucleus, Woodman's grocery bonding, and Laura's cinnamon rolls.
Traditions are nice, change can be scary, and life moves on. Also, hair grows back.
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