a family holiday

by Audrey

A holiday that is important in my culture is Christmas. Christmas is celebrated in many cultures but it is really important in mine, partly because it's a bridge between the two places that I consider home. It brings happiness and families closer together. People think that it is just about getting presents but it is way more then that. It is a time to celebrate the birth of Christ with family. Some people even use it as excuse to make special food for the family. Plus you can even stay up all you want so you can open your presents early in the morning and spend the day playing with them.

On Christmas all my family will come over to my house, only because my grandma told them to. We all have respect for her, because she has experienced so much more of life than any of us. Despite my families differences we all get together and have a good time. All the kids will go outside and roast marshmallows and we play some games. It's a time to celebrate! After that the family goes into the living room and we dance until it is time to eat. Then when it is midnight we all open the gifts. Sometimes everyone sleeps over; that way we can be together on Christmas day.

In my family Christmas is passed down because we all love being together. Even when we don't have enough money to buy gifts we will all get together. People just come for the food anyway. The food is what brings the family together. It reminds us that the best things in life don't have to light up and make noise or make life convenient. In fact, a slow, home cooked meal is almost opposite of the toys some kids get. However, it is home cooked that unites us and my grandma makes the best food anyway. Sometimes I wonder it's really not passed down it is just by instinct. Maybe it's in our blood. Maybe we weren't made to live any other way and Christmas is a sort-of reality check.

Tradition is a way for a family to get together. It is to celebrate something that happened that day. It's kind of of like celebrating someone's birthday. It can be going to Denny's after church every Sunday. It can even going to a loved ones grave the day they died. A day you celebrate every year with your family is what a tradition is. So you can just make it up or you can have had it for many years. But it's the chords that wrap us all together and remind us of what it means to be human.