My Christmas Tradition Going By The Wayside (?)

One of the traditions I keep for myself is going occurs on Christmas Eve.  I go to the Mall Of America and eat lunch at Hooters, hopefully seeing that really cute blond who's been there for years.  I then go to Southdale, and I make sure I lap every single level of the mall.  Finally, I drop by The Cheesecake Factory attached to Southdale and get a few slices of cheesecake, one of which I eat the next day (Christmas Night), the others when I can.

I didn't do it last year.  Christmas Eve 2023 fell on a Sunday, and I was working a Vikings Game.  I could have fought traffic to at least get to The Cheesecake Factory, but ultimately I didn't think it was worth it.  Besides, I had already "broken" this tradition the year before because I was in Hawai'i taking a vacation with my family.  I don't quite remember if I was able to do all three things in 2021, and I think I did do all three things in 2020, even though we were still in the middle of the pandemic and there was no vaccine to at least guard me against COVID-19.  And beyond all that, the first "tradition" of going to Hooters isn't something I have steadfastly done every year since I started.

So I guess I am confessing that these aren't time-worn traditions that I would move heaven and earth to make sure I do.  And that is the blase attitude I have going into Christmas Eve today.  I'm not sure I can do any of the three "traditions."  In fact, I don't think I will.  I did not ask to take the day or even the afternoon off (like I did in 2020, at least according to my Franklin Planner).  And with this new crush of forms we're getting because another lab decided to shut down, things are going berserk in The Fourth Department, where I will be all week (besides tomorrow/Wednesday/Christmas Day, of course).  I remember years past where I was in The Main Department and things were so meager that we were dismissed really early.  Because of the confusion and dot-connecting we need to do with these new forms coming from this closed lab, I know we won't get to leave early.  In fact, there's a real good chance I'll be staying late, like I have ever since this lab shut down.  I know that The Cheesecake Factory will have different hours from Southdale, which will close at 5.  While I may have gone to get cheesecake and not walked around the mall in years past, I cannot imagine doing one without the other.  Then again, I considered doing it last year after the Vikings Game.  Once again, I'm admitting my "traditions" are pretty fungible.

Ah, to heck with it.  If by some miracle we get done by, say, noon, I'm doing everything.  If it gets to, like, 2 or 3, it's off to Southdale.  Any later and I don't know if trying makes any sense.  I'm guessing I won't be leaving work till way past then.  Nope, I might get some fast food and go home ... before leaving late in the evening to head off to the only place I know in the Twin Cities that is open late on Christmas Eve.  I have gone to this place to drink their scotch and whiskey for several years now, and even though I skipped this two years ago, I have committed to doing this moreso than the Hooters/Southdale/Cheesecake Factory roundelay.  Yeah, gotta admit that this is my Christmas tradition!