
One of the things I don’t think I ever gave too much thought to, as a parent, was how my traditions and ideas would influence my daughter. I’m not talking about the big stuff like how we celebrate major holidays or where we go on vacation, I’m talking about the smaller stuff . . . like celebrating all kinds of love on Valentine’s Day or volunteering in the community or (here comes the actual point of today’s post) making a big deal about the Oscars.
Seeing all of the Best Picture nominees is something I started doing before Hannah was born. It was a quest I shared with a very dear friend and then it became a quest that Dale and I took on as well. The pandemic changed a lot of it for me and, in some weird way that I can’t exactly explain, I don’t really . . . care . . . about this particular achievement any longer. It’s not that I’ve lost interest in it completely, but I’m definitely no longer a completist when it comes to seeing all these movies before the Oscar awards are given out. I’m so out of touch with the process that the announcement about the nominees, something I always made a point of watching, was completely off my radar until after it happened.
Apparently, though, my love for the movies and the Oscar show is something that is ingrained in Hannah. She has seen most (or maybe even all at this point) of the Best Picture nominees and several of the movies nominated in other categories. She’s been giving me nudges to watch some of the ones she thinks are particularly swell (and I’ve managed to watch and enjoy several now) and the other day asked me . . . what are we doing for our Oscar party this year?
Blink. Blink.
I hadn’t even considered that she’d want to come over and watch with her two movie luddite parents this year but traditions hold strong in my girlie and her excitement about watching with us is perpetual. For many years we actually dressed up to watch the show, donning dresses and heels and bling while Dale wore his tuxedo. I know that Hannah has really fond memories of those days and, while we don’t dress up anymore, we do still try and tailor our menu to fit or represent the nominated films.
Our menu for Sunday included many small plates, including potato skins (Belfast), shrimp cocktail (CODA), empanadas (West Side Story and Encanto), pizza with black olives (Licorice Pizza), KFC chicken (Spencer), grapes (Being the Ricardos), and store bought apple pie (Don’t Look Up). It was fun to come up with these ideas and even better is that Hannah now helps with the food.
Even though my priorities about all of this have changed, I truly love that it’s something Hannah is carrying on. A mother’s influence on her daughter is definitely not something to discount!