Family Traditions

Most of us have our family traditions, and we are no exception. Evidently, the Thanksgiving yams, green bean casserole, stuffing and fruit salad tradition of my youth did not filter down to the grandchildren, or all of my children, for that matter. However, there is one that is unique to us in this house, whether it is Thanksgiving or any time the family gathers here.

Since Buck and I moved back to this house in 1992, we have periodically recorded the height of the children in the family on the doorjam between the living room and the dining room. We never clean that doorjam. Even when we paint, as I did last year, the doorjam does not get painted.

We trade off where we have holiday dinners between us and the two daughters in California. For our turn, we end up with Thanksgiving at our house because we are a firm believer in keeping the toys and and wrapping paper mess of Christmas up at the kids' houses. So, this Thanksgiving, before everyone left, we did our usual "measure in", same as we did in 2006 and 2007. It has been two years since we had Thanksgiving here, but I decided to review the doorjam to see what we still have visible.

First of all, I realized that although we have not scrubbed off or painted over the measuring marks, over the years many of the markings have rubbed off as people have brushed against the doorjam. So, the complete record is no longer there. Here is what remains:

The earliest entry is for 8-9-92 (4', 9-3/8"), the summer we remodeled the house before we moved back in from Atwater. There is no name by the date, but my guess is it belongs to Big C.

The shortest entry is for C-2 on 11-23-06 (35-5/8").

The tallest entry that is named is for Big C again on 12-13-95 (5', 8-1/4"). In fact, Big C was tall enough that most of his marks are still there, including ones from 1-11-93 and 3-18-94. What they tell us is that in the almost three and a half years from August 1992 to December 1995, he grew almost a foot.

The tallest unmarked entry that is 1-5/8" taller has no name or date, but I suspect it belongs to Big S who was with us for several months years ago. Or, it could be Big L.

I know we measured Big C again along with Big W a few years ago when they were out here, but I cannot find the marks. All I remember is Big W complained because her honey was a half inch taller than she was. She wanted to be taller. He just hugged her and said, "That's the way it is."

Big T is on there. She measured in at 5', 4-1/4" in 1993 and 5', 4-5/8" in 2005.

The earliest grandchild measurements that still show are for M-3 (36-1/2") and L-1 (38-3/4") on 1-30-05.

And here is how much they have grown in the last two years between Thanksgiving 2007 and Thanksgiving 2009:

M-2: 4', 5-1/4" for a total gain of 3-1/4"
M-1: 5', 1" for a total gain of 4-1/2"
L-1: 4', 4-1/4" for a total gain of 4-5/8"
M-4: 3', 7" for a total gain of 5"
M-3: 4', 2-1/2" for a total gain of 5-1/16"
............ and the big growth spurt winner is:
C-2: 3' 8-1/2" for a total gain of 6-1/4"