Traditions

(and yes - you do need to sing it out when you read the name of this post!)

I've been thinking about traditions today. I've always been grateful for traditions, and I can't even count how many times I've complained to Cory that "we need more family traditions!" Today though traditions made a little more sense to me - the reason for traditions just clicked with me. Traditions rock!

See - Cory's family makes "Conference Scones" every 6 months when it's time for General Conference. We haven't always done it - (in fact the last time Cory decided to make scones it was kind of a burnt mess....) but we talk about it every conference time, and I know that the other Ellis households follow along every single conference weekend. Anyway, this morning my sister-in-law Kori made a post on Facebook asking all of us to take pictures of making our Conference Scones.

As I thought about Kori's request for those of us stretched out from Washington state to Indiana I realized this is what traditions are all about. Sure, it's about passing on things that different generations have done - and that helps us to feel connected to each other. But today I realized that traditions don't just link us to past generations, but they link us to our current generations when we are far away from family and loved ones.

There was a feeling of common bond knowing that even though my in-laws live in Logan, my sister-in-law Ashley's family in Washington state, and my sister-in-law Kori's family in Indiana - we were all doing the same thing. Not only were we enjoying the words of our prophet and church leaders through conference - but we were connecting our families with family traditions and delicious scones. I didn't miss family quite so much, I didn't long to be with them quite as much - I knew that we are going to pass these things on to our family members and be connected in even more ways than before.

Thanks Kori for the reminder and helping me see traditions a little more clearly. Thanks for giving me a chance to discuss traditions with my little boys, and reminding them that even though we don't live close to you guys - we still all love each other. Love all of you!