Volume X, Issue 27
December 15, 2021
Word of the Week: tradition
Dear ,
What holiday traditions did you learn as a child? Which have you kept, discarded, or messed with?
I'm excited to share a story sharing about my mom's Christmas traditions that was published online at https://www.eatdarlingeat.net/
yesterday. If you click the link and scroll down just a bit, you can read and/or listen to "A Voice from the Past." (If you don't see it there, which will happen when newer writings are posted, the
permanent link is www.eatdarlingeat.net/post/a-voice-from-the-past.)
It sure feels great to honor how hard my mom worked to give all five of her kids what she called "a nice Christmas" year after year. Here we are celebrating one of them. I think I was two. (Note that we are
unwrapping a book together.) I started early!
I'd entered Eat, Darling, Eat's holiday contest, and absolutely love the essay that was chosen for first place, "Messing with Tradition."
(There were no other awards, but publication, and a new apron were award enough for me!) In fact, I like "Messing with Tradition" so much, I chose it for this week's featured writing. Enjoy, and have fun writing about traditions, as well as celebrating them, in this holiday season.
Love and light,
Maureen
“You and me against the world,” we used to say. Jenn’s father died when she was four, and from then on, it was just the two of us, mother and daughter, indivisible. We didn’t have much family nearby, so we were usually on our own for holidays. I tried to make Thanksgiving and Christmas festive and fun, but my efforts couldn’t live up to her expectations: She longed for the big family gatherings—like the Partridge
Family and the Waltons—that we watched on TV. . . .
Read the rest of "Messing with Tradition" here.
WordPlay Now! Writing Prompt
This is WordPlay—so why not revel in the power and potential of one good word after another? This
week, it's "tradition."
PROMPT: Write about a holiday tradition, either one of your own, or someone else's, real or fictional.
It's fun to play with prompts in community with fellow writers, and to be able to share the results when you're done. You can find out about WordPlay classes, workshops, and retreats here.
MAUREEN RYAN GRIFFIN, an award-winning poetry and nonfiction writer, is the author of Spinning Words into Gold, a Hands-On Guide to the Craft of
Writing, a grief workbook entitled I Will Never Forget You, and three collections of poetry, Ten Thousand Cicadas Can't Be Wrong, This Scatter of Blossoms and When the Leaves Are in the Water.
She believes, as author Julia Cameron says, "We are meant to midwife dreams for one another." Maureen also believes that serious "word work" requires serious WordPlay, as play is how we humans best
learn—and perform. What she loves best is witnessing all the other dreams that come true for her clients along the way. Language, when used with intentionality and focus, is, after all, serious fuel for joy. Here's to yours!
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