The Ritual of My Cat, Fluffy

Every morning Fluffy and I do the same thing. It is this: -She sits outside my door until I come out; -She meows at me as I walk down my stairs; -I turn around and pet her.

Sometimes I say to her "What do you want?" I wish I spoke cat so I knew what she said; if anything. I've heard that pets are keenly aware when someone's sick; maybe she sits outside my door and then meows to give me comfort. She can't be wanting human contact, because Per awakes earlier than I but when he leaves our room she doesn't meow at him.

He sits in the living room when he first gets up. She jumps up on his lap and he pets her. When I get up, Fluffy hears me stir and runs for my door. After I pet her, she runs off and does her cat thing. I'm puzzled as to why she does the same thing every morning, but one things for sure..I love my little kitty.

Fluffy, on the stairs

Traditions

One of the things we always do on Christmas Eve is eat the same Swedish dinner. Per usually salt cures a ham for three weeks then cooks it the day before Christmas Eve. For dinner, we always have cold ham (Jul skinka;) potato casserole (Jansson's frestelse;) cracker bread (Knäckebröd;) rye bread (Limpa bröd;) pickled herring (Sill;) cheese (Ost;) little wieners (Prinskorv;) meatballs (Köttbullar;) summer sausage (Köttkorv;) peas (Ärtor;) boiled sausage (Värmland's korv;) boiled whole potatoes (Potatis;) and Christmas soda (Jul must.) Truly a smörgasbord.

Per's Swedish and I'm American, therefore we compromise by having an American Thanksgiving and a Swedish Christmas. We always have turkey; mashed potatoes and gravy; stuffing; green beans; yams; cranberry sauce; rolls; and pumpkin pie on Thanksgiving, but the recipes may be different. Not so, when it comes to Christmas Eve dinner - the recipes are always the same. On Christmas Eve we've eaten the same recipes for twenty years, and will most likely eat them for at least another twenty.

I like to do things the same way, so I guess you could say I'm not very adventurous. I usually order the same things at restaurants and go to the same places. I wear the same kinds of shoes and get similar hair cuts. I follow recipes and buy the same things when they need to be re-bought. I try new things (when I feel like it) and when I find something that I like I stick to it like glue.

I don't handle change very well; I'm usually the one that says, "Why do things have to change?" I love traditions, especially the ones we have at Christmastime.

Christmas Eve Table

Ham, Meatballs, Jansson's frestelse, Peas, Potatoes,
Varmland's korv, Little wieners, and Summer sausage

Per, slicing homemade Limpa bread

Cheese, Cracker bread, Herring

Why Things are Done That Way

In some cases, I imagine people asking questions and hearing "I don't know." In other cases, I imagine them asking questions and receiving an answer. For example, my neighbor lets her kids play outside until 10pm. Perhaps her mom said, "I don't know how late kids should stay out" so my neighbor decided on 10pm. If I asked my mom the same question, she'd say, "Don't bother people after 9pm."

Society gets changed when people do things a new way either because they don't know or because they DO know but don't want it done that way. For years, people didn't get bothered after 9pm. My neighbor came along (who either didn't know the tradition or wanted to set a new one) and BAM! the tradition changed. 

I don't hear it called changing traditions but evolving. Sometimes I don't think evolution is necessary. I think we need to keep some things the way they are and teach people if they don't know. If I don't know, I need to find out before changing it.