A Review of the Holiday Traditions of the K Family

When the kids approached junior high and high school we were overseas and it was a great time to enjoy new traditions from our host country! The location also supported a number of TDY/TAD crews on alert and they became part of our traditions. We invited these aircrews and their maintainers who were away from their families over the holidays to our home for dinner on Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Years and the Super Bowl! What fun we had! A bunch of fellow American military personnel, away from home and enjoying the holidays with us! Once we got past the usual get to know each other time it was all laughs and sharing of great meals. The toasts were enjoyed and usually included some light prose as well! 🙂

After rousing meals the group needed to burn some energy and we did different things such as go to the gym for a game of walleyball (volleyball in a racquetball court with the walls considered inbounds). We also participated in walks around the installation foot path/nature trail and football games on the TV (yeah it burned calories I am sure)!

After we became a family with college age children away from home, we expanded our “group” to include the young airmen on the installation. We took full advantage of the opportunity to serve meals in the dining hall on holidays! The smiles on their faces and the opportunity to thank them for their service helped bridge the distance to our children living thousands of miles away. We also learned the fun of taking cookies and other “treats” to the men and women on base who could not leave their posts. Imagine their surprise at having a couple of guests arrive with snacks!

After retirement we were able to relocate closer to our extended families and still enjoy the memories of those years of service! Our traditions continue to develop though as we add grandchildren, nieces and nephews and their significant others into the group!