Tradition is a lame excuse to me as well. It is one of the reasons that I refuse to celebrate most holidays anymore. \n\nTake Christmas and Easter - both supposedly religeous holidays, but both have lost their meaning in American society - it is all about getting gifts...buying stuff and stimulating the economy. Hallmark has made a mockery of most holidays by inventing other holidays, just to sell more cards. \n\nTo me, tradition is only valuable if the meaning of what youre performing maintains its tradition. Doing something for the sake of tradition is lame, unless youre celebrating the original purpose... Even with Christmas, people might go to church that day when they dont go the rest of the year, but they are still missing out on the big picture.... \n\nThe term "rule of thumb" comes from the tradition of not being allowed to use a stick bigger than the thickness of your thumb to beat your wife with. Lucky thats no longer a tradition....