It All Started with a Simple Question

Last night as we started eating dinner I asked, "Rev Emily wants to know what ya'll's favorite Christmas traditions are?"
"Why?" asked William.
 "Well,"I said, "It's Charlotte's first Christmas and they're trying to figure out what they want to start."
"You don't plan traditions, they just happen."  piped in Christopher--oh I wish it were that effortless but yeah me for making it look that way!
"I don't know," said SK "Just the whole thing."  I knew we needed to be a little more specific, so to get the pump primed to have them answer the question, I reminded her that when we lived in England and couldn't find the T'was the Night Before Christmas book she used her Christmas money to buy one from the school gift store.  So now the subject has jumped (you've got to be quick to keep up in this house).  William, "What were those store things again?"  "You know," said SK, "Where you go in and buy stuff for your family and friends because you're a little kid and can't go shopping anywhere else."  "They usually set it up in the cafeteria." I said trying to help give a visual to jog the memory. "Yeah" said Caroline, "You use the money your parents give you to buy the junk they donated,and then you give it back to them for Christmas."  (She has a point).  Christopher, "I hated those kids that would use the money to buy stuff for themselves--I wanted to punch them in the face."  (Now there's the Christmas spirit--not one of our traditions I hope.) "And," he added "They have those kind of kids in the US and in England." "But, at least I got to get the book for our tradition," redirected SK.  (Oh if we could have only stayed on this path.)
"I think Rev. Emily and Zach need to have another baby."  declared Caroline.  Instead of wondering and asking why Emily gets a title before her name and Zach doesn't which is exactly what I should have done, it reminded me of Dec. 20th.  "Oh, ya'll Daddy and I are going to be gone on Friday Dec. 20th.  We need to find places for you to stay--any thoughts?"  "Why are you going away right before Christmas?" someone asked.  "It's their 20th anniversary." remembered William my sweet and sensitive son.  "You better not be going anywhere warm and where I'd want to go." Caroline my typical 13 year old self absorbed daughter said.  Again instead of admonishing her for being selfish and making it all about her, which I should have done, I said, "We're just going downtown to one of the hotels there."  Hands immediately clapped over four pairs of ears as  chorus of shouts erupted--"oooooh, ugh, stop talking about it; please don't say anything else!"  And then Caroline's hands came off her ears and began waving in the air (I think she was trying to dance while seated at the dining room table) and she began to chant, "hotel, motel, Holiday Inn." SK, "Stop Caroline you're making it so much worse!"  Again instead of telling her that singing and dancing at the dining room table from a somewhat clumsy 5'10" 13 year old wasn't a good idea, which I definitely should have done, I asked, "What is that song?"  "It's a song about sex Mama," Christopher said, "just what you're talking about doing."

It all started with a simple question, and now I wonder, do Emily and Zach really want to know the Doyle's traditions?