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When my family gets together for a holiday, food is always a very big issue especially because we are a Filipino family. One Christmas, I remember we had a large amount of food. It was December 2012, and for the first time Christmas was held at our house that year. We had prepared for the Christmas party weeks in advance. All the decorations and lights were up around the house and the Christmas tree was beautifully lit like a clear night sky, with the star brightly shining at the top. Coming to our house for Christmas, we had family come from up and down the California coast.
Everyone was going to be at my house for Christmas, my grandparents Dina and Rudy, my aunts Maria, Madean, Charmine, Emily, Minda, Christine, and Sydney, my uncles, Pete, Don, Buddy, Ralph, and Page, my cousins Nick Jacob, Johnny, Kayla, Tianna, Jenna, Lucas, Tallulah, and Viggo, and even my 104 year old great grandnother Enriqueta. My Aunt Minda from San Diego had never been to our house before and as soon as she stepped in the door she said, “I love your house already.” Group by group my relatives were arriving at our house. We had generations after generations all together in one house. What a great sight to see.
As our Christmas party progressed, it was time to start getting all the food ready and set to eat. My grandmother in the kitchen, had finished cooking pancit on the stove, a Filipino noodle dish, which is tradition to have at every family get together. The smell of fried carrots and celery filled the dining room as my grandmother brought it to the table. Once the pancit was put down, everyone knew it was time to eat and gathered around. “Everything looks so appetizing,” said my Uncle Pete with his utensils ready in each hand.
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...per being ripped apart and thrown on the floor. About an hour or so later, all the presents were opened. My little cousins were all very excited about the gifts they received and could not wait to play with them. After all the thank you’s were given, it was then time for everyone to leave, hugs and kisses and “see you soon” were exchanged, and off they went until next year.
Christmas with my family is one of the most joyous occasions and food brings a sense of togetherness in my family and is something I will never forget. With my family tradition, I have become very family oriented; I would love to see my children follow the same for years to come. They too will become family-oriented, and they will learn that no matter what, family is always going to be there for them. Christmases spent with my family are memories I will treasure for years and years to come.
Four people sit kneeling around a small table in a small room laden with food. A room where a serious man in a black box holds out a can of something altered and edible, and a young girl perched near her mother clutches a bag of potato chips to her chest as if claiming it as solely her own. This is the scene depicted in a photograph of the Ukita family in Kodaira City, Japan as part of a series taken by Peter Menzel for the book “What the World Eats”. This series of photographs illustrates not only what people eat in different parts of the world, but also how their families, and lives as fellow humans can so closely resemble our own.
Food has been a great part of how he has grown up. He was always interested in how food was prepared. He wanted to learn, even if his mother didn’t want him to be there. “I would enter the kitchen quietly and stand behind her, my chin lodging upon the point of the hip. Peering through...
When I think about Thanksgiving and Christmas, the first thought that comes to mind is the good food. Every year my family and I prepare many homemade dishes to celebrate the holidays. For Thanksgiving, my family and I will go all out the way in preparing dinner. We will actually start preparing the food two days in advance, so we can make sure that we have everything is prepared. The food is traditional with Thanksgiving, turkey, ham, collard greens, yams, stuffing, egg nog, cranberry sauce and sweet potato pie. For Christmas, my family does not prepare as much food as we do ...
When I was a kid, Christmastime was always very special too me and it still is today, I had to discern whether or not to open the presents when everyone else was still sleeping or to be patient
It is Christmas Eve at my grandparent’s house. I am sitting around the table in the noisy dining room with my whole family. As the seven different fish dishes finish cooking, my grandfather begins to place each one on the table in front of us. My favorite Christmas Eve dish is the first to come out—linguine with clams. As my grandfather enters the room, my senses are suddenly overwhelmed with the smell of the homemade white sauce and the fresh shellfish. My grandfather slowly sets the bowl of linguine with clams in the center of the table and I can barely stop myself from diving right into it. Linguine with clams and the other fish dishes hold a religious significance for most Italians, but for me, these dishes are significant because of the quality time I spend eating them with my family.
My family had many memorable holiday and birthday celebrations that are still valued by me as I age and move up in life. Before my parents decided to divorce we used to cook all day and night on Christmas Eve and when we finally decided to sleep, or my parents decided, we would wake up at 4:30 in the morning to open presents. I believe that custom is still with me to this day because I still wake up at 4:30 in the morning on Christmas Day. I think that customs depend on the emotional connection. My family would sit around the living room and laugh, talk, and reminisce about different times in their lives. We used to have a big celebration for birthdays and would invite everyone. It was always a personal affair that we would cook for and dance and just have a great time with family and close friends. It was a beautiful thing and it was extremely enjoyable. I cherish those moments with my family and I plan to have those customs and also to add my own customs into my own family one day in the
My aunt and grandma waved goodbye, kissed goodbye, and they fled. Mom was glad she wouldn’t have to scream at her mom and sister. My Sixth Birthday Wish!
For the Tet celebration, Que bought two extravagant hampers of luxurious foods for Uncle Chinh and his family to indulge in, “When she had unwrapped all the merchandise, I realized she had bought everything needed for a magnificent Tet banquet: pork pates, meat, lard, sticky rice, dried green mung beans, peanuts, bamboo shoots, vermicelli, rice-flour pancake wrappers, pork rind. She was beaming” (118). These delicacies are the complete opposite of the foods that Que and Hang had for their celebration at home. The lavish food items Huong lists as a part of the Tet banquet, such as “sticky rice” and “pork rind” are costly and upscale which reveals that Que wants the best for Chinh and his family. Each luxurious food item of the banquet symbolizes the strong desire Que has to gain Chinh’s approval and love.
Although I have grown up to be entirely inept at the art of cooking, as to make even the most wretched chef ridicule my sad baking attempts, my childhood would have indicated otherwise; I was always on the countertop next to my mother’s cooking bowl, adding and mixing ingredients that would doubtlessly create a delicious food. When I was younger, cooking came intrinsically with the holiday season, which made that time of year the prime occasion for me to unite with ounces and ounces of satin dark chocolate, various other messy and gooey ingredients, numerous cooking utensils, and the assistance of my mother to cook what would soon be an edible masterpiece. The most memorable of the holiday works of art were our Chocolate Crinkle Cookies, which my mother and I first made when I was about six and are now made annually.
to finally see them. Being with family is fun and helps make the holidays more
Christmas to me is a celebration, which includes spending time with my family, decorating the entire house, inside and out, and shopping, for the people I love. Doing this with the people I love is what means the most to me. Spending Christmas with my family is very important to me. We usually gather and celebrate at my parent’s house, in East Tennessee. My husband, our three children, and myself travel from California. My two sisters, their husbands, and children come from a nearby town, for our celebration.
I had let all my other siblings open their gifts before me. I just want to embrace every smile and capture the moment like take a picture with my mind. Finally, I opened my presents. The feeling was more than excited for me, I was grateful. I realize every year before this that it was my parents who put forth so much effort.
As I look out my window I see tiny snowflakes slowly drifting down. I can hear the roar of laughter coming from the living room downstairs. Soon enough Saint Nick will be upon us. Christmas always brings everyone home for the holidays. Christmas is my favorite holiday because of the traditions my families and I celebrate that include our Christmas Eve routine, Christmas morning routine, and giving back to our community.
Soon, we all sat around the dinner table enjoying my grandma’s culinary specialties. There was one dish that had stuck in my mind though, possibly because it was the last dish served that night.
My mother always comes up with ways to make vegetables taste delicious. Her meals are so mouthwatering that it is known throughout the neighborhood. Occasionally, we would have many guests over during the holidays. Partying and enjoying the nice atmosphere around the dining room, however, I 've noticed that they are all there impatiently waiting for my mother 's famous chicken fettuccine pasta dish. This is when my mother is the happiest. Cooking has always been her way of entertainment and she loves seeing others happy as they enjoy her delicious meal that she work so hard on. I 've never thought food could bring people together in such a comforting way, but it taught me that as long as you 're doing something you love then it can make others happy as well. Seeing her happy always warms my