Christmas Rituals

Laura Sessoms Professor Pettis
Comp 1503, CRN 1102
September 18, 2012 Christmas Rituals Every year, my entire family and I get together for Christmas dinner. For as long as I can remember, I remember all of my family just sitting in the living room and talking to everyone about how our Christmas has been. My Aunt and Uncle Corrine and Robert Kemp hosted the party every year. It was the one time of year that our whole family would gather. Falling asleep the Christmas eve night was always hard for me, I constantly would wake up throughout the night as if I woke up and it would be the next day and bright as can be. But if only right, when I woke up it was still dark out, so I would try so hard to fall asleep. When the next day finally hit, I was so happy as if it was the first time I ever received a gift from my mother. Before the gift giving my mom would make a wonderful breakfast such as pancakes, eggs, and bacon. The aroma that filled the house woke everyone else from their sleep. When everyone was in the dining room, we all would say Merry Christmas and begin eating, after we were all done we would all rush to the Christmas tree and find a seat. My mom would give each of us one present at a time and we would open it. My mom loved watching our faces when we opened our gifts that she would take pictures of us. Soon after I finished my presents I would run to the shower and get ready because there is another person I love to see, my dad. At my dad’s house, I received all my gifts and then we would sit down have lunch with his fiancé and talk about how Christmas has been so far. Being with my dad just makes me happy that he was around, even though he was no longer with my mom. Even if it’s only a few hours with my dad, we would always find Christmas movies on the TV and just relax until I had to leave. One of our favorite Christmas movies are Dr. Seuss’ “How the Grinch Stole Christmas” and “The Polar Express”. We watch the same 2 movies every year with some new ones in the mix. But Christmas always went by fast because after being with my dad for a few hours he would drive me to my Aunt and Uncle’s house for Christmas dinner. Dinner at my Aunt and Uncle’s house is like a fairy tale at the North Pole. When you walk in my Uncle always had his trains set up with snow and a tiny fake ice rink in the middle of it. His favorite hobby during Christmas was setting up his trains. And when you walked into the living room a huge real green tree was right in the front window. The tree was always decorated with fake snow, they always wanted to add tinsel to the tree but couldn’t because it could be a fire hazard. As all our family arrived we would all sit near the tree and open our family gifts to one another and our secret Santa gifts. Soon after we opened present dinner was ready, we would all grab our food and head to the dining room table and would say grace. Being with my family on Christmas is the best time of my life. I wouldn’t ask for anything more. Christmas is the one time of year that everyone all gets together and share stories , eat food, and enjoy everyone company. It’s one of my favorite holidays because it’s the one time that you can see everyone that you haven’t s been able to see all year. It’s a never ending ritual that I hope never breaks.