Squawk Radio
Wednesday, December 14, 2005
On the THIRD day of Christmas the Squawkers bring to thee ...
GERALYN DAWSON!
Hello again, Squawkers! It’s great to be back. Thanks to the Fab Five for inviting me again.
No swimming suit stories from me this time. No snake bites, either, thank goodness. Hopefully, I can get through this blog without any crises or catastrophes, although we did have an ice storm here today and my husband is still a hundred miles from home. I thought he should get a hotel and wait it out, but Oh, no said the manly man.
I won’t blog about how stubborn he is or how stupid it is to be on the highway when it’s a skating rink. I’m saving all that up for him when he gets home.
My family is big on tradition and many of them are...well... they’re stupid. For example, we have the birthday hat tradition. Think children’s party hats. When the kids were little, everyone–Mom and Dad included–donned a party hat to sing Happy Birthday during the cake & candle presentation. At some point in the early years, we got down to only one Alvin and the Chipmunks party hat, and that became the official birthday boy/girl hat.
I’m thirty-something years old (Oh, all right, Christina. Forty-something. Geeze.) and on my birthday, I still put on the Alvin hat. I feel pretty darn special wearing that hat. We all do. It’s stupid, but it’s a family tradition.
Family traditions kick into high gear this time of year. At my house, the holiday season begins the day after Thanksgiving when we steal our neighbor’s University of Texas Longhorns (boo) yard flag and replace it with our beloved Texas A&M (Whoop!) banner in honor of the traditional rivalry game. He retaliates, of course, and the fun lasts until the New Year’s bowl games. (Since they're up for the national championship this year, we've ordered a USC flag to fly just to be neighborly.)
We have Christmas traditions that involve everything from hanging outdoor lights to the music we listen to while trimming the tree to what we eat before we leave for Midnight Mass Christmas Eve. However, the Christmas tradition that means the most to my family is something I started the year I cooked my first Christmas dinner.
After reading about the idea in a magazine, I bought a new white tablecloth and paint pens, and everyone who joined us for our Christmas dinner had to sign and date the tablecloth before we ate. Ah, the griping and groaning! Now over twenty years later, we’re running out of white space on the tablecloth. It’s covered with pictures our kids drew growing up, messages from loved ones no longer with us, and special memories from years that flew by too fast. It’s our best family tradition and a true family treasure.
So, those are some of my traditions. Tell us about some of yours!
USA Today bestselling author Geralyn Dawson intended to write a special bio for her guest appearance at Squawk Radio in which she wanted to ask everyone to please oh please go buy her December release, HER SCOUNDREL, but she ran out of time when her neighbor escallated hostilities by replacing her red and green Christmas lights with...gasp...orange and white t-sip Longhorn lights. After spending much of the day on the phone, Geralyn is currently baking cookies in anticipation of the caroling party she's hosting tonight for the local USC alumni club.Visit Geralyn's website at http://geralyndawson.com/
Christina Dodd, 11:08 AM
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