Executive Publisher’s Comment: It’s once again time to partake in annual traditions

by Ted Light

Traditions, I’m sure every family has them – you know the kind I mean – it could be as simple as the ritual carving of the Christmas turkey or the annual gathering of the clan for a Labour Day celebration or bocce ball tournament. I’ve always loved these traditions and God knows the Light family has enough of them.

As a family we are so enamored with these annual events that we have spread our little plagues far and beyond the boundaries of our already very large extended family. This past weekend we held the annual “field of dreams volleyball tournament” one of our many traditions. This year’s tournament drew 15 competitors along with eight or more competitor’s children.

We expose the young early to our games so that they will look forward to competing at future tourneys. This is our devious method of turning a simple fun weekend into an annual and never ending tradition. For my part I had a brother, two nephews and a son competing this year, all of them hoping to have their name engraved on the winner’s trophy. Actually over the course of the weekend we give out numerous trophies and plaques. Each with its own mythology and meaning and each highly sought after.

We have become so successful at recruiting our kids we have created a senior’s trophy to give the original bunch something to shoot for. This successful weekend is actually the spawn of another of our many rituals, the 32-year-old Monday night volleyball game with its post game ritual of liars dice at the local.

All of this started innocently enough when a group of young men played one simple game and someone suggested we should do this again.

That takes care of last weekend; now let’s see what’s on the calendar for this weekend. Wouldn’t you know it; it’s a gathering of the gang from the annual fishing weekend. Actually that has morphed into two annual fishing weekends; one with the annual golf tournament and the other with the annual nine ball and darts tourneys.

This weekend’s gathering is to celebrate a hole in one from the annual golf tournament from the second of the two annual fishing weekends. Are you still with me?

In three weeks time we will gather Karen’s clan, (my understanding wife) for our annual horseshoe tournament and dinner in cottage country.

This will be followed by the yearly bocce tournament on Labour day, then the annual fall Algonquin camping trip. What is frightening is that I’ve just scratched the surface of our annual traditions.

Maybe this is getting out of hand, do you think?


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