I spent a little time today searching the Net for New Year's traditions, both old and new. My little family needs the aura of stability created by tradition. If I had had more time, I would've celebrated Kwanzaa this year, a celebration with family-grounding traditions, but my life was a little too chaotic this December, which was par for the course in 2007 and previous years.

I got an e-mail from Denise the other day asking me if I would write the lead in for unusual family traditions. I didn't know if I should be flattered or offended. Is it THAT obvious that I have an unusual family? Maybe she read the post I wrote a while back about how we used to play "Let Me Clear My Throat" by D.J. Kool every night to signify bath time. Possibly she knew that my husband and I always give each other anniversary cards that are entirely inappropriate for the occasion, and often in languages that we don't speak, or maybe somebody told her that every Easter I pull out the little cardboard animals out of the bottom of the PAAS Easter egg dye kits and write phrases from the movie "Deep Cover" on them and then mail them to my brother (back when we lived at home we used to just hide them in each others bedrooms).