Holidays aren’t same without traditions

Courtesy Photo

By DAVID DE LEON
Ranger Reporter

November and December include some of the most treasured holidays of the year. The weather cools down, and the fires start to ignite. The frost begins to gather on the windows, and the scarves come out of the closet. The holidays are spent with your loved ones and family members who travel from far away to cherish the moments. Families practice traditions they have been doing for years and pass down to younger generations.
During Thanksgiving, it is traditional to eat turkey, stuffing and dressing. Some people go out to eat or travel to a relative’s house or even stay at home and fry their own turkey. “My dad always deep-fries the turkey. Mom does everything else,” said Kit Gregory, a general studies major. “I wait for that turkey all year long.”
Thanksgiving also is a holiday to commemorate the friendliness and kinship of the native Americans shown to the pilgrims hundreds of years ago. Now it is a time to show and give thanks to everyone you love. “My favorite thing about Christmas is the Christmas spirit and cheer,” said Kassie Lax, a mass communication major. “Everyone is so happy.” She believes the meaning of Christmas is a time for us to put our differences aside, come together and love each other.
The meaning of Christmas sometimes is lost in the hoopla of presents and other material things such as trees, lights and Santa Claus. For whatever reason you celebrate the Christmas holiday, you are sure to have some sort of holiday tradition. “Mom whips out the Kenny Rogers and Dolly Parton Christmas CD and starts decorating the house,” said Paul De Leon, a general studies major. “My brother, father and I hang up the Christmas lights. We go to church on Christmas Eve and open only one gift that night and wait for Santa to bring the rest of them in the morning.”
Many people and their loved ones have holiday rituals that, without practicing them, the holidays would just not be right. A large part of everyone’s holiday is continuing to partake in his or her customary holiday routines.
Every New Year’s Eve, I call my mother right after the ball drops. She even makes me eat those blackeyed peas for good luck throughout the rest of the year. I know it doesn’t work, but it makes her happy, and it wouldn’t be New Year’s without eating those peas.

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