The Taste of Tradition

All families have traditions. These traditions may be big or small, but either way they are a part of that family's unique identity. In my senior peer group, we have our own tradition that celebrates a certain type of family tradition: food. Each of the seniors in my group was assigned a certain month of the school year to bring in a "memory food" that means something to them or their family. By doing this, we have learned something about each of our group members and their families that we probably would not have otherwise.

Because the school year is nearing its end, we have gotten through most of our group. Each person has brought in a delicious food with a personal story to go along with it. Something that I have found very interesting is that none of us have brought in foods that are similar to anybody else's. Each different memory food is as unique as the person who brought it. I didn't get to bring my food in until recently, but I discovered that choosing what food to bring was more difficult than I imagined. I discovered that sharing a tradition with people who aren't a part of it can be frightening because you're afraid of what they may think. Especially within a family, traditions are very personal, so opening them up to possibly being criticized is a scary thought because that tradition has become a part of your identity. I never really realized that something as simple as a dessert that my grandma makes at her cabin could be such an integral part of who I am until I decided to share it with people outside of my family.

Eventually, I decided to bring in one of my favorite desserts, Special-K Bars. I worked up the courage to share that tradition with my senior peer group and it went over well, so now I've decided to share it with you. Ever since I was a little girl, I have been going up to my grandparents' cabin with all of my aunts, uncles, and cousins. My grandma would make us all Special-K Bars and I would eat about half of them all by myself. As we got older, she taught my older cousins how to make them and then they were able to bring them to the cabin. Eventually, my mom put together a family recipe book and that recipe is one of the ones we put in. Now I have learned how to make them and can share them with my entire family.

More to Thanksgiving than Turkey

As I’m sure you all know, this past Thursday was Thanksgiving. I find Thanksgiving to be a very interesting holiday because people all across America celebrate it, regardless of their religious beliefs. There are many ways to celebrate this day such as watching the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, playing a game of football (or watching for those who don’t wish to play), playing games or talking with family and friends, and of course eating a big turkey dinner. However, these aren’t the only ways to celebrate Thanksgiving, and how you choose to spend your holiday can reveal some aspects of your identity.

Just by talking to my friends and seeing what they did for Thanksgiving, I realized that there are a lot of different ways to celebrate holidays. Some went to a relative’s house, some celebrated with neighbors, some had family or friends over to their house, and my family just kept it simple, stayed home, and stayed in our pajamas all day. The different people that we choose to spend our holidays with show the relationships that we highly value in our lives. For instance, my family greatly values closeness within our immediate family, so with my brother home from college we chose to just celebrate as a small family. My friend has many relatives that live in the area, so it is a tradition for them to all gather at one person’s house as a huge group and celebrate together. For others, this important relationship may be with the family next door that they have become very close with, so they choose to celebrate with them.

The different people we choose to surround ourselves with and the things we choose to do on important days such as Thanksgiving show something about us. For instance, I am more comfortable in smaller groups of people, so I celebrated with just my immediate family. I also enjoy just relaxing as a means of entertainment, so my family and I watched a movie together and played a game. However, being part of a family means that you aren’t always going to get your way and sometimes you will have to step outside of your comfort zone on a holiday to make other people happy. There are years that we travel on thanksgiving to go celebrate with a larger group of people, and because I am part of a family, I need to accept that. So, even though we all have personal preferences for how we would like to spend our holidays, sometimes you need to take a step outside your comfort zone to be with the people who make you who you are.