This is the original VHS we watched!
Celebrating our family traditions gets a bit tricky when distance is factored in. One in particular, is a tradition I like to celebrate every autumn. Ever since my children were little, come September I would pull out the fall decorations to set the stage for watching The Legend of Sleepy Hollow video. And not just any video by this name! Nope, it had to be the Disney version narrated by Bing Crosby! (pictured above)
I have a rich store of memories of my four children and I viewing that video! Eventually, grandchildren came along. And as soon as September appeared on my calendar, out came my autumn decorations and out came that video. A cozy time,of eating pumpkin shaped 
candy while listening to Bing’s narration is permanently etched in my memory?
Children move away. And you might think they would all be done with this particular autumn revelry. That, I discovered, wasn’t necessarily the case! Even as adults, my children perpetuate this traditional autumn happening in their own homes!
For example, I fondly remember delivering my son his own DVD of Sleepy Hollow, after he and his wife moved away to attend college in Texas (photo below). No, they didn’t have children yet. But that didn’t matter. The point was to keep the memories flowing as we continue to observe this tradition.
You just don’t ever grow out of some things
Updated a few years ago to the this DVD
Perhaps because of the direction God was calling him, my son determined family traditions would keep the vast distances that would separate us from seeming so vast. Thus perpetuating the tradition of watching Sleepy Hollow would serve that purpose.
Now he is in Africa. Just the other day I pulled out the Sleepy Hollow video. Though no grown up children, or young grandchildren were present, viewing it brought them close. Remembering special moments like the photo above, I snapped a picture and texted it to my son, with the caption you see here. Interestingly, he had just read the story to his sons. Watching the video will soon occur.
Missing You!
Distance may separate us in miles, but the traditions we carry over will keep us close!
