When I was five, my whole family went to the Holidazzle parade in Minneapolis. We booked a few hotel rooms all next to each other, so we could basically combine three hotel rooms into one. These were the times that I will never forget, thanks to my aunt Jane. She planned everything and paid for all of it. When we drove to the parade, my cousin Josie and I sat in the back of the seven person van, bundled up in blankets, hats, and mittens. My aunt turned on the radio and our favorite song came on, “Help Yourself” by Tom Jones. These are all huge reasons my aunt Jane has influenced me through my life, teaching me manners and how to be a gentleman. She did all this while incorporating fun, like listening to music aka “Help Yourself” by Tom Jones, driving around during Christmas time, and planning Field Trip Wednesdays for my cousins and I.

When I was a toddler, Jane and I always drove around listening to “Help Yourself” by Tom Jones. Now me being my little self, all I focused on was the main line. It went something like “loves is like candy on a shelf, if you want a taste, then help yourself”. All we did was yell the lyrics the whole time “Love is like candy on a shelf (bum budda bum budda bum bum bum)”. I thought this was so cool at the time, that she could just play that song on command. But now that i’m older, I actually know what the lyrics mean, and who Tom was referring to in the song. I still listen to that song today, and it brings back the memories of the days I loved. She always made sure to play that song during Christmas time, our favorite time of the year.

We always drove around Downtown St. Paul, plowing through the snow with my cousin Jackie, stopping at any candy store I could see with my three year old eyes. Those days were the best, because they made a tradition. Every year since then, Jane, Jackie, and I stopped at Home Goods and bought one decoration to bring to my Grandma. We brought her the decoration, and pulled the rest of her decorations out of the crawlspace, and decorated my Grandma’s house. We set up all of the houses, the trees, and more and more, too much to explain. I look back on it now, and realize that Christmas is LESS THAN TWO MONTHS AWAY. I can’t wait to bake more pies, cookies, and cakes with Jane and Grandma. We don’t only like making candies and desserts, but we enjoy eating candies and desserts other people made.

One place we go to each summer is the World's Largest Candy Store in Jordan. We usually went there three or four times a summer since I was eleven. We went on Wednesdays, also known as Field Trip Wednesday’s. Jane, my aunt Jackie, my cousin Josie, my brother Mikey, and I went somewhere interesting on those Wednesday’s, such as a big park, museum, or a zoo. My favorite field trips were the ones I talked about at the start of this paragraph, since we got to pick out 3 things from the candy store to munch on on our way down to Wabasha and Duluth for the day. We always made sure to stop at Lark Toy Store on our way there, ride on their carousel, and buy some fantastic fudge. After we stopped there, we drove to a really cool spot in Duluth. It was a huge cliff overlooking Lake Superior, and we could see all the boats docking and loading. We always had a picnic there, which consisted of ham sandwiches, cheetos, grapes, and pudding. EVERY. SINGLE. TIME. I didn’t mind it though, since Jane made the best ham sandwiches ever! Anyhow (that’s what Jane says all the time), Field Trip Wednesdays were always the favorite part of my summer. Another notable trip was when we traveled to Pepin, Wisconsin. My whole family, all 16 of us, drove up to a huge house we got to rent for two nights. This wasn’t really considered a field trip Wednesday, because it was a Friday, and it was during the Winter. All I remember about it was walking down the street to a restaurant and eating a gigantic double bacon cheeseburger. Of course that was the one thing I remembered, since it incorporated stuffing food into my mouth. All in all, field trip Wednesdays were awesome. Sadly, we had to stop doing them last year since Jane started working Wednesdays, which is pretty sad, but i’m still glad it lasted for as long as it did.

Everything I have incorporated into this essay has impacted my life tremendously. From music, christmas time, and field trip Wednesdays, these thing have formed me into who I am today. I like to believe that I am a gentleman, with good manners and etiquette. I base all of my personal traits on Jane. She was always there for me when I needed her. All I want to say is thank you Jane, thank you. You are the peanut butter to my jelly, the any to my how, and the Christmas to my music. I love you.