Christmas in California

Topic: Tradition

Source:
My junior year I went to California and spent Christmas with my mother's side of the family.

Relation:
Our reading on Japanese hip-hop in Conformity and Conflict(CH. 36).

Description:
All the way up until my junior year, I spent Christmas at home with my close family.  We decided that we were going to travel down to California and spend Christmas with my mom's side of the family this time to change things up.  My dad's side of the family is mostly German and Norwegian and my mom's side is mostly Hispanic.  We arrived three days before Christmas day.  I remember I loved being in California because the weather was hot and sunny, a huge change from the snow and rain in Seattle.  On Christmas Eve I went to a huge outdoor fiesta that was held at my great aunt's house.  Most of my aunts and cousins that were women were working in the kitchen and cooking up a huge meal.  We had homemade tamales, tortillas, rice, beans, and asada soft tacos.  I am a huge fan of Mexican food and having real authentic food was delicious.  The fiesta was filled with a lot of people from my mom's side of the family.  I felt like I kept meeting more and more cousins that I was not introduced to before.  We stayed for a couple hours and then went back to my mom's old house for a special surprise.  A tradition in her family is that all of the kids get to open a present the night before Christmas.  I opened up mine and received a new video game.  We went to sleep for the night.  Christmas morning we woke up really early and went to church.  We went to a church where the mass was said only in Spanish. I had never been to church before when they did not speak English.  I could understand some of the words but the priest spoke to fast for me to understand it all.

Commentary/Analysis:
Before I went to California to visit my family and spend Christmas with them I was unaware of the fact that everyone spends Christmas differently.  Everybody has their own specific family traditions that last a lifetime.  Going to my family's fiesta on Christmas Eve was something that my close family and I had never done together. Eating the authentic food was amazing and meeting all my cousins was really great.  I was surprised when we went home and got to open one present before Christmas.  It made me realize that everyone has their own little specific traditions.  Back at home in Washington our tradition of Christmas Eve is to have a steak dinner and play poker together as a family.  The moment that surprised me the most was when we went to the mass that was spoken in Spanish.  I took Spanish my freshman and sophomore year so I knew a little bit but was nowhere close to understanding the whole mass.  It really opened up my eyes to see how my mom's side of the family is different from my close family but still we share similarities.  At home in Washington we do attend mass on Christmas but it is spoken in English. Overall, my time spent in California for Christmas really helped me embrace my mom's side of the family.  I got to see how they spend Christmas and they were very welcoming and helping along the way.  It was really interesting to see just even the little things that different families do  for holidays.