The holidays are in full swing.  You can feel the energy and excitement in the air.  People are busy with shopping and baking and anxiously awaiting family and friends.  My daughter and the grandkids will be here Friday and I am so excited.  My son arrives next week and Rebekah and Jon will be here too.  Our house will be overflowing with love and laughter.  Christmas music is on Pandora and it's been playing since before Thanksgiving...yes, I'm one of those.
 

This time of year is full of traditions old and new.  In my family my mother's grandmother used to make Christmas bread.  It consisted of candied fruit and was made from scratch.  It was quite the treat.  When she passed, my mother took over this tradition.  Needless to say, it was quite the ordeal.  I remember loaves of bread all over my mother's house with towels on top of them waiting for the yeast to rise.  She would have heaters by them if it was too cold and it seemed like it took her days to make them just right...just like her grandmother used to do.  Most of the time they came out over baked or under baked or the yeast wouldn't rise and she would have to start all over.  Religiously, year after year, my mother mailed out her Christmas bread. My sister and brother and I would marvel and sometimes laugh at her diligence.  You see, my mother is not a baker but her commitment to tradition surpassed all odds.
 

Two years ago, she stopped making the Christmas bread...my sister and I don't particularly want to continue with this tradition so my mother, the smart woman that she is, now orders "Easter bread" from Publix, which is quite similar to her laborious Christmas bread.  My sister and I can handle that, so tradition rolls on. 
 

My mother also started making Pizzelles about the time she figured out Publix was her new best friend.  Rheumatoid arthritis (Arthur, she fondly calls it) has taken over her body with a vengeance so I now bake the Pizzelles.  My mother comes over to my house and my sister joyfully puts the sugar on top and mom supervises.  It's a fun time had by all.
 

I'm starting a new tradition this year...it's called, "PP Cup!"  My mother gave me this idea when she shared a story of a conversation she had with a total stranger.  It was a telephone conversation.  She ended the call with "All I want today is Positivity and Peace and today you have filled my "PP Cup."  I love tradition...I love my mother!
 

Wishing you all a Wonderful Wednesday. May your traditions old and new have a little "PP Cup!"