Capitol Letters: Dropping the Pumpkin on New Year's Day

DECEMBER: THAT MONTH packed full of timeless traditions is over! I am relieved. Our family participated in many of these traditions - celebrating St. Nicks with stockings, Christmas with a tree and numerous decorations around our home, exchanging gifts with family and friends. Holiday music was the common soundtrack at home and our son singing carols made for a sweet sound. We attended holiday parties at work, visited a live nativity, drove around seeking Christmas light displays, and our son caroled with his classmates. We hosted a small Christmas dinner at our home and attended a family-friendly party to celebrate the New Year.

In addition to all of these these activities we have one tradition that was created by my partner and me that is now a staple from year to year.

This tradition was created during our first December together just seven years ago. In our home we noticed that there was a pumpkin that had survived well beyond the harvest holidays, so naturally we decided to drop it off a high spot - a bridge - on the first day of the New Year. The initial purpose of this activity was that it would be fun and it was! We then recognized that we should have another purpose if we were going to continue this event, so we decided that the pumpkin should represent all of the negativity of the past year. Letting go of it would be our way of putting it beyond and behind us.

The second year of participating in this newly created tradition proved to be challenging as we were in the middle of a long-term road trip. But, our tradition survived. Just 2 days into the New Year we dropped a pumpkin off a causeway in Tampa, Florida. This pumpkin had traveled with us at least 4,000 miles!

Living at sea level for the duration of this ritual has created a challenge. Finding "dropping locations" - a bridge that we haven't yet used or a high spot accessible in the winter to a young family - can be tough. Nevertheless, we’ve been successful in finding a different place every year to release the old year's negativity.

This year the opportunity to continue our tradition on January 1st eluded us but we made the time on the second day of the year. This year our oldest son noticed the pumpkin hanging around our home beyond the fall and this was our opportunity to talk to him about the tradition. He also actively participated in the dropping of the pumpkin and saying good-bye to it. It warmed my heart to see him excited and engaged in this tradition because now that he's participated it truly feels like a family tradition.

My hope for you is that you can build on the challenges of the previous year releasing the negativity. Now let’s see what experiences 2012 has to offer us!

Steve SueWing regularly blogs at www.AkDad.com