Ongoing communication lessons learned at home!
Posted by Jackie Ewing on December 21, 2009
The Ewings Christmas Tree
As we were having breakfast this morning, my daughter asked why the Angel was not yet sitting on top of the Christmas tree. I told her that Dad said we couldn’t put the Angel on until Christmas Eve. So she asked Dad why. He said, because Mom says we cannot put the Angel up until Christmas Eve. We looked at one another while she laughed hysterically at us!
Turns out that we were both respecting the others “tradition” … for the past 18 years I might add. There’s no such tradition in my Irish family, we always put the Angel or Star at the top of the tree when everything else is on there. There’s no such tradition in his American family either – go figure! So, we have now placed the Angel on the tree so she can shine away in harmony with the lights and decorations on the tree.
This reminded me of a story I had heard a few years ago. It was similar in that a little girl asked her Mom why she always cut one end of the roast and cooked it separately from the roast. Her Mom responded that that was how her mother had taught her to do it. They looked at the old recipe card and sure enough, it said to cut one end off the roast and cook separately.
So that Christmas, the little girl asked her Grandmother why they cut off one end of the roast – did it make it taste better, or cook faster, or what? Grandma was quite surprised to be asked this question and they went into the kitchen to talk to Mom and see that she was indeed cutting off one end of the roast.
Fitting your Roast in your Roasting Dish
Grandma looked at the roasting dish and told her daughter that she didn’t need to cut off one end of the roast because her roasting dish was big enough to fit the entire roast. She further explained that she had only cut the roast so most of it would fit in the roasting dish she had inherited from her own Mother, who used to do the same thing!
The moral of both stories? Communication can remove many incorrect assumptions that surround you in your daily life!
Do you have a similar story to share? Please comment below, we’d love to hear your own stories.
