Essay on Fmaily Traditions

In my own family, many of the traditions we continue to celebrate and do would not have been passed on if it was not for the closeness of our family. My mother can make many native foods from growing up around her grandmother such as traditional Creek Fry bread; things that I know I will one day pass on to my children. I can still remember my great grandmother teaching my sister and I how to do traditional basket weaving, a tradition still taught in classes at the Creek Nation today. "Basket-weaving is one of the oldest known Native American crafts" and shows the diversity of tribes as the different styles of basket-weaving are still present today (Lollman). If families did not pass on our heritage, many of our native songs and dances performed at powwows would not be around to see or reenact today. Ultimately all of the traditions we have today would not be here if it was not for the families passing their knowledge and memories down.

One such tradition is not socializing with neighbors but only talking to her sisters or other family members. Both of my great-grandparents came from a large family and so the Sunday was always considered family day. It was nothing to see a yard off of kids playing or see the men playing a game of horseshoes as the women would set out the dinner. However, it was the winter time that holds the most memories for my mother. It was then that the families would all gather at the family pond and go ice skating and the men would build a big fire and everyone would stand around and drink hot chocolate. One such tradition in the winter time was right after the first snow fall of the season. We would take a big mixing bowl and go out and fill that bowl as full as we could. Then she would go in and make a big bowl of snow ice cream (Food in Every County). One bright sunny day, our family was going to Lake Pomme De Terre for a family picnic. Like Shteyngart, I was all set for some grilled hamburgers or hot dogs or even some fried chicken. However, that was not meant to be. Like Shteyngart, is aw food being set out that was I saw food that was familiar to my great-grandmother’s culture. Instead of grilling hamburgers, she set out chicken and noodles, mashed potatoes, green beans and for dessert a shoofly pie, sugar cookies, and schnitz pie, which is made with dried apples (Food in Every County). My mother laughed when she saw my face because later my

My Aunt loved taking us places, she would take us to the mall to get coloring books and toys, and we would also go to the market to get food and to get my brother Bakugans which were popular at the time. She also got us strawberry ice cream, and took us to the park. The park got renovated while we were there so we got to see its transformation from a sad little playground to a giant wooden playscape that contained a ship, two seesaws, four metal swing sets, and a bike path.

In my culture traditions are very important in your life. For example, one tradition that has been in my family for many years is going to the park and celebrating Easter with the family. We barbecue, play sports, and then at the end of the day we have an Easter egg hunt for the young children. Another tradition of ours is to do a Christmas Eve dinner at my great grandma’s house. During this event you are with your relatives and close friends for dinner and for a social gathering until the early morning of Christmas day. Many of our traditions revolve around getting all of our family together and spending time with them.

Every family is different whether it’s their race or culture and every family has different celebrations and traditions this is what makes different families unique.

When we got to my grandparent’s house, my dad’s side of the family was already there, and we had eggs for breakfast, and hamburgers for lunch. Then we played yard games and a bounce house. At the end of the day we had a bonfire, roasted marshmallows and made s’mores.

Through my interactions with my extended family over the course of this project, it has become evident that there are specific traditions and values that each side of my family holds dear. Despite my premonition that interviewing my family would be a rather simple and straightforward endeavor, getting the information that I was hoping to find from my family has been anything but easy. Both sides of my family certainly have some common values and traditions between them; however, each side has its own distinct folklore and values that have been instilled over several generations. These traditional family values have come to be one of the most notable differences between the two halves

Just like Mama and Maggie, my family and I understand how important it is to maintain our ancestors’ way of life. Being of an old southern family, I have many morals and traditions that have been instilled in my brain. One large example of this is my religion. My grandmother grew up in church, my mother grew up in church, and I grew up in church. All though I do not go as much as my grandmother did when she was my age, I still know my core beliefs. Another value important to my great-grandmother is that everyone should wear an undershirt through the winter. I can still remember begging to take it off when I was little, and my mother would say, “Your Mawmaw Dot says you have to.” Although I didn’t like it, I am sure that I will insist that my children do the same. It might seem minuscule, but cooking is another value that my family continues to observe today. My grandmother even uses the same utensils as her grandmother once did. Using special recipes and canning are things that generations to come will continue to follow. Holiday and birthday parties are my favorite tradition of all. Before my cousins and I were born, every event was held at my great grandparents’ home. My great grandmother lived for parties. She even had ceramic name tags for all the family members that she would use to place everyone at the table for dinner. The entire family would come together for every holiday and birthday. Once my generation came along, the parties moved to my aunts’ home, where they continue to this day. I love having such a tight knit family, and I contribute this to our large gatherings at least twice a month. Continuing with family traditions, like Mama and Maggie in Everyday Use, is one of the best ways to be reminded of my

Traditions are really important in my family it brings us all together in a fun way. One of my families many traditions is on the Fourth of July we have a big party for my mom’s side of the family. We get together and we have hot dogs, burgers,and chips. We play volleyball, kickball ,and talk till it’s dark then set off fireworks.

It is important for people to know their families traditions because everyone has different holidays that they celebrate, so you would need to know what holidays you celebrate or you might get your family upset with you.

The summer before he died, our family took our annual Edisto Beach trip. We all carried on like we usually did, building sand castles, swimming, and play cards. We took long bike rides in the evening. My cousins and I made a ton of voice memos on my Ipod. We went fishing, because that is what my grandfather loved to do. I distinctly remember him standing at the edge of the ocean with his fishing hat on, looking out at the horizon. I could tell from the look in his eyes he had loved time he got on earth.

Family traditions can be good or bad, but in my case family traditions are good. I have a couple of family traditions,but I am just going to talk about one of my birthday traditions. My grandma Lynn always makes sure it happens every year. You’re probably wondering what it is, well it is Wizard of Oz night.

One of these is that on Thanksgiving everybody comes together to my parents’ house in New Jersey for a huge feast. On Christmas only my mother and the children (me and my brother) travel to Illinois to spend a week with my grandparents. On New Years Eve we all get together at my parents’ house in New Jersey and toast to the New Year with champagne and apple cider. During Labor Day weekend all of my family travels to South Jersey to my grandfathers’ condo. We usually spend all of our time on the beach and barbequing, except on Sunday when we go to church. After all, my grandfather is a minister. One of our biggest family traditions is going back to Puerto Rico. Every year my mother and I travel back to Puerto Rico for a portion of our summer vacation. Now that I am older I travel there more often and stay there much longer. My father never joins because he doesn’t like my mothers side of the father too much and he thinks that we when we speak Spanish we are all plotting against him. Of course that’s not true though. My bother doesn’t speak Spanish so he doesn’t like to go either. I guess that tradition is one that belongs solely to my mother and I.

Since my family lived so close together, we had many family traditions that remain important. We gather for nearly every holiday for a meal and routine. For Easter every year, we have an Easter egg hunt and dinner at my grandmother’s house. For Christmas Eve, we always went to my great-grandparents house and had dinner and exchanged gifts. For Christmas, we celebrated at home, and then went to my grandmother's for breakfast with our cousins. The importance of all of the holidays we celebrated was that no matter what was going on in our lives,

As a child, my family would celebrate every holiday with grandeur, especially Christmas. We have specific traditions and rituals that we carry out during the season, but the most important of our traditions is what we do on Christmas morning. Our rituals and traditions reflect our values as well as my own of family, unity, and tradition. The morning of the holiday my mother has always woken my brother and I, and then brought us to our dad so we could all walk down to the family room. As we gather in the family room around our tree and presents, my mom serves us each a piece of her Christmas casserole, saved for this special morning. Following our video-taped walk down to our presents, my brother, mother, father, and I open one gift from each other and the first thing in our stocking. After this ritual, my brother and I would go downstairs to our in-law suite where our grandmother lived, to wake up our Mimi and pull her upstairs so that we could finish opening presents and have hot chocolate with our entire family. One Christmas morning