Back to School Traditions

My family is big on traditions. My mom started a lot of traditions when my brother and I were growing up and I’ve kept them and added to them. Now I find my kids sometimes saying things like “but that’s tradition!” when I pass by the Krispy Kreme in St. Cloud. Even though we were only there two times in a row- suddenly, to them, it’s a tradition.
The Back to School tradition my mom started involves a scared little girl going to kindergarten and a favorite meal. When my mom asked me way back when what I wanted for supper after my first big day at school I told her I wanted her chicken noodle soup with the homemade egg noodles. So every first day of school my mom would spend all afternoon up to her elbows in flour rolling and cutting noodles. The tradition carried on when my children started school.
Then I decided I wanted to start my own tradition too. We kept my mom’s soup and added a Back to School cake. This cake I would decorate in some kind of school theme. I have done pencil cakes, ruler cakes, school bus cakes, and crayon cakes. I have done paint pallettes, erasers, math books, report cards, and notebooks. I have done apples, calculators and computers and I find I am running out of ideas!
Sometimes I wonder if the traditions mean as much to my children as they mean to me (because I’m really sappy). But just last night-on the eve of a new school year-Zach asked me “what’s my school cake going to be this year?” and I knew that yes, it does mean as much to them. So next year will find my mom rolling more noodles and me licking frosting off my fingers as we continue the traditions started for a little girl more than 35 years ago.