The Youngest Tradition

Many, if not most, of my family's Christmas traditions center around food. But perhaps, to those who know us best, this is not a surprise -- we also tend to remember anniversaries, vacations, and European villages in terms of what we ate.

Some of these traditions have been with us since before the dawn of time (my time, anyway). The family has had Chinese take-away for dinner on Christmas Eve every year without fail since my dad was in high school. Another beloved tradition, the Christmas Eve Tea, started when I was about four as a snack to help me and my sister make it through church to dinner afterward. We've had a particular coffee cake on Christmas morning every year since 1985.

Last year, we added a new tradition, and today we celebrated its first birthday. On the Sunday before Christmas we go to Maggiano's, the best Italian restaurant I've ever been to, outside Italy itself. Getting all seven of us around one table is a rare thing nowadays, and we enjoy every minute of it.

It's never too late to start a new tradition.