Tradition

There are some traditions that you carefully plan, and some traditions that just happen.

It has just kind of happened that we have a tradition of hosting the Jr. High Christmas party, and I love it.  Contrary to popular belief, Jr. High kids are a lot of fun.  In fact, they just might be my favorite age group.  One reason is that they are not too cool to play all sorts of cheesy games, like the time-honored open-the-present-with-mittens-and-a-goofy-hat game:

Another apparent tradition is that my children take their first step in the presence of two teenage girls and myself.  Luke took his first step in a cell group meeting that I blogged about here.  Anna has been standing on her own since she learned the trick at a youth rally the weekend before Thanksgiving.  She can stand alone all day long, but she has flatly refused to take a step.  Well, last night shortly before our party started, she took the plunge.  And by "took the plunge," I mean, that while she was standing on her own with me cheering and encouraging her to walk....she took one small step with her right foot.  She then froze in that position...grinned...and slowly lowered herself to the ground.  Such a risk-taker!  Greg was like, "Anna!  Could you not wait until I was in the room???"  For her daddy, she then repeated the performance exactly one time.  This time, she gave a big laugh as she took her step and re-steadied herself.  Then...she slowly lowered herself to the ground.  And she hasn't done it since!

Not that we've had much time to practice.  Today, we went on a train ride with Luke's Gigi and Papa.  More on that later!