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A word about family traditions
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It was going to be a bad Christmas. Nothing could be done to salvage it. The little tree (the only one we could afford) was bare, surrounded by its fallen needles. The Christmas presents were not much; Santa did not have the means to give the children what they had on their Christmas lists. It was going to be awful, the season of joy and giving was corrupted, nothing in the tiny apartment even resembled Christmas. The little, dead, bare Christmas tree was prophesying what the season would really bring that year to the family, almost nothing. How could they save the holiday? It seemed almost hopeless, but it turned into my family’s most loved and fun family ritual.
To this day, I cannot remember a Christmas morning where Santa did not fill the entire living room floor with balloons. Every Christmas morning my family wakes up to a jungle of balloons; long skinny ones that look like baseball bats, the regular round ones, some that have a special design on the rubber, and others that are so tiny we do not notice them until we hear a big bang when we accidently step on them. This Christmas tradition is the one that saved Christmas back when I was really young. My parents, in an effort to save the holiday, had rushed to the local corner store and bought some balloons. The balloons were cheap, took a long time to blow up, and made that Christmas and every Christmas after that so much more exciting and fun than if my parents had been able to afford all the gifts we had on our list to Santa that year.
I have always known that spending time with your family is important, but I never had a testimony of its importance in my life. When I read the words “wholesome family recreation” in the ...
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...nce because when he was there we knew of our importance to him. Morning without prayer is not completely; those prayers helped me learn the gospel. There are so many benefits to wholesome family recreation that go unnoticed underneath all the fun. Before I started researching this topic, I did not think that having a testimony of recreation could be possible; testimonies were about tithing and the atonement. Now I realize that family traditions and rituals are an indispensable aspect of family life. I can say that I have a testimony in the importance of wholesome family recreation. When I start my own family, I want to continue and build new rituals so that we can build lasting and meaningful relationships. The Proclamation to the Family is incredibly insightful, who would have thought such a minor thing was really an ingredient to having a successful family.
Jared’s harsh environment suggests something will have to change in his life. No child should have to live in an unstable environment where nothing is provided for them. Ron Rash writes, “ On Monday morning the Baggies were empty and his parents were sick. His mother sat on the couch wrapped in a quilt, shivering” (285). Jared’s parent’s cocaine addiction is to the point that they need it to survive. His parent’s drug addiction obstructs their ability to provide for him. Jared realizes his parent are improvising with a log because they are incapable of providing a real Christmas tree when he converses with his dad, “‘you and your momma go ahead and light our Christmas tree. I’ll be back in a few minutes.’ ‘It’s not a Christmas tree,’ Jared said. ‘Sure it is, son,’ his father replied, ‘it’s just one that’s chopped up is all’” (283). He cannot keep living a life with no hope that his parents will provide for him. He will probably not make much of himself in life knowing his parents cannot provide for him due to their addiction.
Society’s outlook on “what’s in” changes every day, from what’s hot to what’s not. Fads repeat themselves over time and grow to be something that everyone now loves. Tattoos are the main trending thing of this century. They were once only a symbolism for criminals, sailors, prostitutes, and bikers, but now tattooing is mainstream in today’s times. Tattoos are seen as works of arts and your body is the canvas for aspiring tattoo artist. Nowadays there is such a wide variety of tattoos with different meanings, such as, a hand print of a loved one to someone’s favorite quote or bible verse. Some tattoos don’t always have to have meaning behind it. Anyone can decorate their body simply because they want meaningless, but artsy and funny tattoos. Inking up is becoming a significant part of someone’s life whether there is a meaning behind the tattoo or not, it is a growing thing to do and it doesn’t seem to be stopping anytime soon.
The perception of tattoos and those wearing them has varied in societies since tattoos first started being used. Some of the reasons people had/have tattoos include: therapy, protection, homage, memory, religion, or a dumb mistake. In historic cases, tattoos were used as a way to communicate with others, and were a common occurrence in most societies throughout history. Schildkrout states “There is no culture in which people do not, or did not paint, pierce, tattoo, reshape, or simply adorn their bodies (Schildkrout).”Since modern technology has made tattoos relatively affordable, faster and slightly less painful to receive, tattooing has shifted from select groups to “everyone else”. There are no specific groups for tattoos anymore, they are seen everywhere on all types of people and are less discriminated agains...
“The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson is a short story depicting an annual event that takes place on the very same day each year in a small town. The reader learns that all residents of the town must attend, including the children. Jackson thoroughly describes the setting and the characters in the story to ensure the reader will not question the importance and significance of this day. As Jackson draws the reader into the event, she purposefully leaves the unspeakable outcome of this lottery drawing until the end. Jackson uses an obsolete and antiquated tradition to expose human evilness and hypocrisy.
Although some dietary treatments have been developed by therapists, many are not supported scientifically due to this treatment possibly affecting a child positively but then having no effect on another. Dietary treatments are used to take certain ingredients out or input them into a child’s diet in order to make a difference to their child’s autistic behaviour.
Although there has been an increase in tattooing the demand for removal has also increased (Kirkby et al 2009) and this has led some to believe tattoos are simply a fashion fad and its permanence
Christmas is almost here again, but have you ever thought how odd some of the holiday traditions are and how they became so popular? Buying a pine tree, setting it up in your house and then decorating it with festive lights and ornaments; hanging up stockings filled with candy over the fireplace; or how an old guy in a red-suit comes to your house the night before Christmas and leaves presents. This, too many Americans is normal, but why? Learning about these holiday traditions will get you into the Christmas spirit and show you what Christmas is truly about.
Ah, to be a kid again. How wonderful it would be to relive the magic of Christmas. Don’t get me wrong, I have always been a kid at heart and a true lover of Christmas. But as we get older and we realize that Santa Claus and the North Pole were just stories our parents told us so we’d behave, Christmas starts to lose that magical feeling. No matter how much we might still love it, Christmastime just isn’t the same as when we were young. And at a time of all the aggravating shopping hustle and bustle, dents in the pockets, headaches, traffic jams and long lines, I begin to realize that God has sent me the most magical Christmas gift of all, a beautiful three year old whom I can relive Christmas in all over. Through my child’s eyes, I see myself each time his face lights up at the sight of Santa, and I feel his anticipation each morning as he faithfully opens up one more window on the Christmas calendar. Tonight, as we decorate the tree, I admiringly watched his tiny fingers delicately place each of the ornaments on all the same branches until they drooped to the floor. So proud of his work, I secretly placed some elsewhere, as to not hurt his feelings, and wondered how many times my own mother had done the same thing. And after a long day of shopping and excitement, I watched his eyelids begin to droop while lying underneath the warm glow of the Christmas tree lights.
Marijuana also known as weed is a preparation of leafy material from the Cannabis plant that is smoked. There are different types of Cannabis from the sativa to the indica. A high grade of Marijuana is called sinsemilla. The main psychoactive agent is the delta-9- tetrahydrocannabinol also known as THC. When the cannabinoid particles are smoked, THC is absorbed very fast into the blood and distrusted first to the brain and then emptied into the rest of the body. Within thirty minutes of absorption much has left the brain. Within five to ten minutes the peak mood- altering and cardiovascular effects will occur together.
“Active family leisure is any nonwork activity that is freely chosen, benefits those involved, is participated in with the whole family, and includes physical movement by those participants.” Families tend not to have leisure time together or at all. When this happens the child may find friends or relatives that they may take in interest in participating in activities with. This makes the parent child relationship difficult and maybe even none existent. (Taylor et al).
...iagnosis becoming more powerful, public schools have found themselves searching to find methods to educate autistic children. Not only is it hard for schools to deal with the autistic children, but also the families have a struggle finding out that their child has autism. Parents of children with autism often suffer from stress and anxiety disorders. Dealing with children that are autistic places extraordinary demands on the parents that can be added over the usual parental daily work and responsibilities. They need to cope with different needs that their child has that the other family members don’t have. There are many support groups for parents that have a difficulty in accepting their child’s condition. They can even attend counseling with their child to find ways to cope with his or hers necessities. Now there are also programs that help the parents financially
Proverbs 22:6 states, “Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it” (King James Bible. 1973). When you train your children, you are passing doing rituals. Rituals that you learned from your parents and your parents learned from their parents. Some people think that they don’t have any family rituals. However, they do not realize that everyday task that you do with your family can be considered a ritual. Family rituals can consist of eating meals together, watching a favorite show each night, and all the birthdays and holidays that you celebrate with your family they can even help out with some behavior issues. In one particular video, the author talks about how family rituals can help build an
Ever since I could remember, I have spent Christmas at my grandmother’s house, a house which is full of comfort, warmth, and happiness. At Christmas, I have always been able to escape the cold and dark real world allowing myself to truly enjoy just several moments in time. These moments have left impressionable memories from my childhood making Christmas a holiday that is special to me and my family. It is a time for my family to get together, share stories, laugh, and even cry.
In many ways Christmas is similar to Thanksgiving in the way we celebrate it. We switch sides, sometimes Christmas is at our house, tons of food is made and we play games. Depending on what side of the family we’re spending Christmas with, there’s a theme, for example, about two or three years ago we spent Christmas with my mom’s side of the family and it was a pajama party and last Christmas we spent with my dad’s side the theme was ugly Christmas sweaters. Every year no matter where we spend Christmas, we always have to get some of my great grandma’s amazing and delicious Champurrado. She makes Champurrado every single year, she won’t tell anyone how she makes it for some reason, but her Champurrado is like heaven in a cup. On both sides of my family,it’s tradition for us get together on Christmas Eve and we have dinner, watch movies, play games, and even take naps, all until midnight and that’s when we open our presents. Also, on both sides, the adults do White Elephant and sometimes depending on what the majority vote is, they’ll do a secret santa exchange. The only thing my mom’s side of the family does differently than my dad’s, is that prior to getting together on Christmas Eve, the adults put each kid’s name in a hat and each person draws a name, and the name they draw is the kid they have to buy a gift for, and they’ll say the least or most amount of money they can spend on that gift.
I believe that traditions are very powerful and can shape how a person thinks. I also think that traditions can shape our lives and the choices that we make or do not make in our lives. Traditions can be learned as we live our life, or they can be taught to us from an early age. I believe it is very important for people to figure out what traditions they truly believe in, and how they are affecting they lives. We should research our traditions and not take any ones word for them, but we should only follow them if we know and believe that they are true.