Week 41: The Importance of Tradition
It’s not doing things just to do them. It’s about intentions and good habits.
Each Sunday, my wife and I prepare, cook and eat a meal together — intentionally. Every Friday, I’ll be sharing our experience here in this space. I want to see the growth that will come in our marriage because of this. I hope you enjoy our story. You can find last week’s post here.
The Christmas season always brings back feelings of nostalgia and tradition. You’re spending time with friends and family and you’re conjuring memories of holidays past with all the special Christmas celebrations. Sometimes we knock traditions. We’re not always big fans of doing things the way they’ve always been done. Maybe that’s just because I’m 24, though.
Take last week’s post, for example. Though we still made oatmeal, it wasn’t our regluar Sunday cooking experience. Something else came up (Sarah’s paper) that changed things. Instead of supporting my wife by helping her cook, my focus became doing everything I could do to help her finish that paper. We kept the essence of our weekly tradition (investing in our marriage, supporting each other, sharing quality time) but the tradition itself looked quite different.
Every once in a while, I don’t think that’s an issue whatsoever. But the power of traditions is saying that this action is sacred. It’s important. And we want to intentionally make space in our lives on a continual basis so that we can keep it. For Sarah and I, that’s cooking. And this Sunday, we were back at it.
Topping It Off
At first, I wanted to cook steak this week. I wanted to think of something special. Not sure why that’s what came to my mind first. Maybe I was thinking of the other experiences we’ve had cooking steak which were, simply put, amazing.
But Sarah didn’t really want steak, so we started thinking of other options. You may notice that in one of the meals above, we made steak tacos with guacamole. I love avocados! Any chance we get to use them as an ingredient, I say take it! So we found a compromise — turkey burgers with avocado topping.
When I was younger, I would have made a funny face at the sound of turkey burger. But, ever since we’ve been married, Sarah has always used turkey when making burgers, meatballs and other dishes. I’ve come to love it! Sure I like some old-fashioned beef once in a while, but turkey has become a staple for us. A tradition, if you will.
Sarah made the patties, and I mixed up the avocado topping. As I stirred in the onions and the tomatoes, I started thinking about how far we’ve come and all that we’ve learned. These weekly cooking adventures have strengthed our marriage. Sarah and I have grown closer by spending quality time together and working alongside one another to accomplish weekly goals. We have fun trying new things and working together as a team. That’s why we’ve made it a tradition — because it’s important. It’s important because we’re investing in one another. Will things come up certain weeks? Sure. But even on those weeks, we don’t stop investing in one another.
So is the cooking itself our tradition? Well, yes, in a way. That’s how we choose to share time together. But it’s those simple moments and the lessons learned that have truly become our weekly tradtion. Growing together. Loving.
But I like food, so the cooking part is really nice too!
Finally, the burgers were ready. Sarah had used some of the onions to mix into the burgers. While we were cooking them, a few of the onions had fallen out onto our skillet. They had gotten charred — the perfect way to eat onions in my book. I scraped a few onto my plate and placed them on top of the dollop of avocado topping I had put on my burger. I went to snap a photo, knowing I’d need one for this post. Sarah looked over and said, “Wow, yours looks really good. Can I take a photo of yours too?”
She’s the photographer in this relationship, so impressing her felt pretty good if I do say so myself.
We ate together and celebrated another successful week. I was reminded of why this time is so important to us as I looked over at my wife. Yes, this is a tradition that we plan to keep.
Together.
Merry Christmas!
As I write this, it’s a few days before Christmas. Sarah and I want to take this time to wish you and yours a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! We’re so thankful for everyone who reads our posts and supports us. You mean so much to us! We wish you a blessed holiday as you spend quality moments with friends and family.
