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No Mom, I Said I Want Toast!

LindaRutherford
Employee
Employee

Happy New Year.  This post from Linda Rutherford  will be our last new post until January 5.  However, we will still be moderating and posting your comments, so keep 'em coming.

 

 

When my son was a toddler, we began a fun (well, we think it is) family tradition for New Year's Eve. We aren't big "let's go out and dance the night away" people, so we always opted for the low-key family gatherings. One New Year's Eve, when Matt was a little more than two, we introduced him to the whole New Year's concept. You see, son, this is when the year changes number, you make a New Year's wish, you kiss at midnight, and you "toast" someone with a drink and say "cheers!"
 
I went whole hog. I bought New Year's hats, noisemakers, horns, plastic champagne glasses, and sparkling grape juice. We paraded around the kitchen, blowing our horns, and saying "Happy New Year" over and over. Then, I poured the sparkling grape juice into the glasses and we said, "now, let's have a toast to the New Year!" We looked expectantly at Matt, all smiles like we were the coolest parents ever to be introducing this new tradition to him. He looked befuddled. "Where's the toast?" he said softly. I told him the "clink" of the glasses WAS the toast. "No, I want toast" he said a little louder. "But..." I said trying to give a two-year-old a logical explanation of my actions. "NO, MOM, I SAID I WANT TOAST!!!!!" Then, it hit us. He wanted the slice of bread that magically appears from the toaster, ready to eat. He wanted ACTUAL toast. So, we toasted the boy some white bread and fed it to him. He was happy.
 
Fast forward. We have done our parade every year since. His sister, now 9, has joined in the fun. And, yes, every year, we end the festivities with what all normal people do on New Year's Eve, with a piece of toast (and not too much butter, Mommy).
 
Happy New Year to you all. I hope you will share any New Year's traditions that you have here.
 

7 Comments
kim-seale
Adventurer C
Linda, What a great story! That was a terrific example of the joy of creating family traditions AND the necessity to explain things very carefully to two year olds! I hope everyone in your family enjoys some delicious toast (and toasts) tomorrow night, even if you go light on the butter. The neat thing about your story is that in catering to your son's request for some "real" toast, you followed the time-honored tradition from our Family here at SWA -- "Give 'em the pickle!!!" Happy New Year to you, our Southwest Family and all of our Blog audience -- see ya in 2009! Kim Customer Relations Blog Boy
blusk
Aviator C
Eeeew, Kim, I don't think pickle jam is very tasty to a young child. Brian
kim-seale
Adventurer C
Gee, I dunno, my little gherkins always liked it. Kim CRBB 🙂
Leah3
Adventurer B
Happy New Year, everyone! :) Thought for the day: Why are they called candles when they're not made out of cans? SWA LUV! 🙂
Toots
Explorer C
I started a New Year tradition with my daughter when she was 8 years old. I permitted her to have a pyjama party on New Year's Eve and I had a craft table set up to make little booklets with fancy ribbons and glitter on the cardboard covers. The booklet consisted of 10 envelopes with every following year written on the outside. Each year since, the group of girlfriends write their New Year's Resolutions and wishes for that upcoming year. When they reach 18 they will have another pyjama party where they will open the envelopes and share their contents with one another. In two years from now I will share the humour of that moment with you. Yes, who knows if there will be any crumbs of toast in those envelopes. Here's to tradition and the Joy of Children in our lives! Toots
bevspeier
Explorer C
LONELY IN WESTERN NORTH CAROLINA I recently moved from San Antonio, TX, to Rutherfordton, NC. I really, really miss being able to fly Southwest. Our closest Southwest travel city is Raleigh-Durhan, which is 200 miles away. The closest airports are Greenville/Spartanburg, about 60 miles away, and, Charlotte, about 70 miles away, but they are neither one among your list of travel cities. Please consider adding Greenville/Spartanburg (GSP) or Charlotte (CLT) to your list of many travel cities. Thank you for your consideration! Your sad former travel partner, Beverly.
kim-seale
Adventurer C
Happy New Year to you, too, Leah!! It is GREAT to see you back on the Blog -- I've missed you! Well, I've missed YOU, but not so much your lame jokes!!! LOL I'm glad you're here! LUV, Kim CRBB 🙂