I’m the type of person who likes tradition and family. I don’t like it when people grow up and move on, or lose track of their priorities. It is relatively humorous that I value these things, because I have been fairly robbed of them in my life.
My dad’s side of the family has never been super-close, but when my grandpa died and some family issues developed, things really got screwy. The family very rarely gets together these days, and I haven’t seen most of my cousins for over a year.
On my mom’s side, things are a bit better. The family is on a speaking basis, but there are a lot of short-tempered people who get grumpy quickly, and situations can turn sticky in a very short amount of time. They are a lot better than my dad’s family, but they all live at least two hours away, so it is a bit tricky to see them all during the school year.
These complications are why I love the holidays. I go 10 months without seeing my relatives, and it can be kind of lonely. Then Thanksgiving and Christmas come around, and I get to see all of the ones on my mom’s side twice in just over a month! Those two holidays are two of my favorite days of the year, because I finally get to hang out with my aunts, uncles, and cousins, and that is something that I long to do more of.
When my family and I walk up the steps to my grandparents’ house on Thanksgiving, I get excited. I know that for the next day of so I will get to hang out with my cousins like everybody else does so often. I grab the handle and cautiously open the door. The first thing I see is my grandpa, Uncle Kirk, and my cousins Sally and Jacob watching the MHSAA football championships. My grandma and Aunt Pamela are in the kitchen preparing Thanksgiving dinner. Later, my other aunts, uncles, and cousins arrive. When the football championships are over, we all eat. My cousins and I sit at the “little kids” table, which has an average age of about 20 years old. When we are done with our dinner, Jacob and I go outside and play soccer or football, usually accompanied by Sally and my sister. When we’re done outside, we go in for the night, and when it is time to go to sleep, Sally, Jacob, and my sister and I sleep on the living room floor in sleeping bags. The next day, we all go back home in the afternoon and resume our normal lives.
When it comes time for Christmas, we all congregate at my grandparents’ house once again. We go there on Christmas day in the afternoon. We have Christmas dinner, and that evening we all exchange gifts. It is a pleasant evening with the whole family gathered in the living room enjoying each other’s company, talking, toying around with our newest Christmas acquisitions, eating more pie, and watching the snow lightly fall to the ground on the street outside the window. The next day we all say our good-byes, and we head our separate ways once again.
I love family holidays. Being able to hang out with my family that I so rarely see is something that I cherish. Many people see their families all the time and take it for granted. They shouldn’t. I have to settle for seeing them all just a few times a year, but it is almost a blessing, because it makes me appreciate family holidays that much more.