Elf

At thanksgiving I celebrate it with my grandparents and aunts and uncles because they always love to hang out at thanksgiving. We would all sit at a big dinner table with all the food on it and we would have to at least get a little bit of everything.Tara’s family comes to their house and they all sit at a big dinner table to celebrate their thanksgiving.Brian’s family does the same at his house,but they don’t really sit at a big dinner table because not all of his family comes so they eat at a little smaller one for

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

When most people think of their childhood they remember fond memories of traditions they had with friends and family, such as Christmas Eve or something as simple as a family game night. Many of these traditions are carried down through generations and have a significant role in communities and teaching youth important values. These traditions shape our culture and allow us to generalize a country or area by simply listing off common traditions. However, it seems as though the values these traditions teach, both religious and social, seem to be evolving to fit an ever changing and more connected modern world. The question that remains, however, is if these values are evolving fast enough for a more forward thinking generation. Many would say

Waking up early on Christmas was always a thing my brothers and I did when we were younger. What made those moments so special was all the decorating we did in the week before. Decorating the Christmas tree was always one of my favorites. Seeing the same ornaments year after year never got old for me. I remember stringing out the tangled lights we used for the outside of the house all throughout the yard. I would hand my brothers a string of lights as he stood on the ladder supported by the house. I always enjoyed putting up the little snowman and gingerbread houses throughout my living room. As you get older all the decorating and family time seems to decline, so spending time with family on holidays were always

Every family has their own unique way of spending time together with loved ones only seen during the holidays. In the Stock home, there is only one thing we enjoy doing. Sure, like every other family we have our grand and elaborate dinner, which is composed of all the greatest delicacies my mother and grandmother can whip up. Of course, as is expected,

At Easter, our extended family comes over and we have egg hunts for the little kids, kids, and adults. We also eat Easter brunch together. On Thanksgiving we also have our extended family over! Our family will eat an immense dinner cooked by my mother and my aunts. Football is usually playing on the TV, and everyone is having a great time. Christmas is our family’s most celebrated holiday. On Christmas Eve, we have lunch with some of our friends at Troegs. Later in the evening, we go to my mom’s brother’s house to give gifts and have a good time. On Christmas Day my immediate family will celebrate christmas together eating a delicious breakfast- usually cinnamon buns- and give gifts. Later that day, we’ll head over to our nana’s house and then to my grandma’s house. At my Grandma’s house we celebrate Christmas and my cousin’s birthday (which is on the same day). Two days after Christmas we will celebrate my birthday, which is on the

Since I have grown up living across the country from my extended family, I never had the big family experience of getting together for holidays. However, my little family managed to still keep the spirit even though their was not much of us. We have small traditions such as opening one present on Christmas Eve and breaking the wishbone on Thanksgiving. On Christmas Eve, we also eat snack food throughout the day and bake while watching Christmas movies. If we lived in Idaho with the rest of the family, we would join the annual Memorial Day family reunion, where they BBQ and visit family member’s graves. When I do have children someday I plan on passing down the different traditions and maybe creating some of my

It was the time of year that you knew that you were gonna have to see the cousins that no one liked. 2007 was the year. Thanksgiving in my family is the definition of chaos. My Dad’s parents don’t like my Mom’s parents. I don’t like my cousins on my Dad’s side, John and Mason, they always pick on me. I have an extra toe on my right foot and sure do remind me. We always come together at my Grandparents house in Durham. It usually starts off pretty calm because my Mom, Dad and sister usually spend the night before Thanksgiving in Durham. We always get up and make biscuits, sausage, cinnamon buns and my personal favorite chocolate chip pancakes for breakfast. I make the pancakes for myself because when Grandma does it they always get burnt to a crisp.

Many families have their own special time or activity that everyone loves to do and that creates long lasting memories. Bonding can happen through any number of events but when food is brought to the table it makes a completely different impact. Through cooking with your family or friends that bonding can be taken to the next level. Through cooking food it relaxes people and inevitable people begin to open up to the other people in the room. An article in the The Atlantic written by Cody Delistraty wrote how, “The dinner table can act as a unifier, a place of community. Sharing a meal is an excuse to catch up and talk, one of the few times where people are happy to put aside their work and take time out of their day”(Delistraty). Though eating

Some families put up a Christmas tree. They also hang stockings at the edge of their bed, and listen their all time favorite books like Christmas Wombat and Bush Christmas.

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,

In my family, when we eat at the dinner table, we talk about our day and build better bonds through our interactions. My mother cooks the meal, my sisters and I set up the table with utensils and place mats and my father is ready to eat. We all sit at the table, no technology, elbows off the table and we give grace. While we eat, we talk about our day or anything exciting has happened and we argue and laugh with each other.

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

As the family grew older, every one separated and as my cousins and I got older and had our own children the holidays at grandmothers house have faded away. No one even goes to grandmothers house for Thanksgiving or Christmas, and there are no more Easter Sunday egg