Traditions

We would like to start out by saying this will not be a standard paper. This will be a paper in which three different people lives are compared and come together under one unified theme. Our theme is family traditions which consis of Jacob Connell's beach trips, Christians DeFilippo's Christmas parties, and Kameshia Williams' family reunions. As you can see from our personal expriences family tradition and get togethers make up who we really are. All these events show closeness, love, happiness and great times with our families.


My name is Jacob and my most favorite time of the summer and the year, besides football season, is the week or two I get to spend at the beach with my family. Not only is it just my Dad, Mom, and sisters but my grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins are all at the beach together. I have 3 sisters, so I am the only boy and I get stuck not being able to do guy things a lot so when I go to the beach I meet up with my cousins (three boys) and have a great time. The cousin closest to me is Caleb, he is the same age as me and if you didn't know us, you would think we were brothers, not because of our appearance but because of how we act just a like. We both love sports to death and we are both very athletic and active. Most of our trips to the beach are very similar. The past 3 years we have stayed in a large beach house in Fort Morgan, Alabama but before that we always stayed in condos in Gulf Shores, Alabama. My family likes the beach house because the beach is never crowded and we are pretty much by ourselves, but Caleb and I of course would much rather be in a place where there are a lot of people and there for more girls, but besides the lack of girls on the beach everything is perfect.The typical beach trip with my family starts with everyone meeting down on the coast (we don't all live around here so we just meet down there) and checking out the nice house that we get to stay in for the next week or two. The week we go is always during the TSSAA dead week for high school sports because we all play sports and that's the only time we get off. The days at the beach always start late for me because I sleep till Caleb gets tired of being up by himself and finally decides to wake me up. We always start our day by going down to the beach and riding the waves for a couple of hours or if the jellyfish are bad till we get fed up with getting stung. After we are all tired of the ocean beating us into the sand we go up and eat lunch, normally sandwiches, and rest a little bit. After eating lunch Caleb and I normally decided to take a walk on the beach to see if we can meet any girls, but where we are at we both know our odds are not very good. Since we will probably not see a single girl our age we take a football or frisbee and have fun throwing it up and down the beach as we keep an eye out for the girls that is never there. Once we have walked for five mile we both decided there are no girls our age anywhere in the state of Alabama we decide to walk back. It is now late afternoon and we are all somewhat burnt from being out in the sun all day. Around this time Caleb and me grab our skim boards, which we have mastered with years and years of experience, and find a perfect spot to skim until the sun goes down. Even though I said we master it will still find our selves bleeding at the knees and elbows and washing sand out of our pants from busting and rolling across the beach. Once day light is gone we decide to go up and eat dinner. Now dinner on our family vacations is something you do not want to miss. I am talking steak, boiled shrimp, barbecued shrimp, tilapia, huge baked potatoes, and amazing sides that are better than any restaurant I have ever been to. And then there is sweet tea and you can’t beat good sweet tea. Once our bellies are full Caleb and me normally take my younger cousin out to hunt for grabs. Because there are not that many people around where we stay at the crabs are everywhere and that makes a lot of fun while hunting them. Just a little side note we even got to see a giant sea turtle coming up on the beach to lay its eggs this past year. After we are done with our hunt Caleb and me normally go and relax in the hot tub before hitting the sack and starting the cycle all over again.The beach trip wouldn't be half as fun as it is without my cousin and family there and they are why I have such a great time every year we go.

As you go from the first story to the next you will start to see the similarities between us. You will see how we love our families and how we interact with one another.


I will start by saying I have a big, wonderful, funny, and loving family. We love to get together and have a great time. This is my story of our yearly get together at Christmas.When I first get there I feel excited and happy. I feel nervous and jumpy almost at the sight of seeing people I do not get to see a lot. The atmosphere is great. We are all happy to see each other and it is really like a homecoming, because everyone is together for the only time that year. All the little kids are excited and wanting to open their presents, the big kids too, but not as much.The next scenes are interacting and mingling before dinner is ready. Everyone is running around and talking. We are all laughing and having a good time. We are all getting caught up about everyone’s business. This is a fun time because we are all just sitting around, helping Ma, and having a great time.Dinner is served. Boy, are we all ready to eat by then. Ma and Pa always make the same thing too. Spaghetti and Lasagna with salad and rolls is the standard. Yum Yum. Of course there are deserts too. And there is always my favorite desert, Strawberry Truffle. :) Thanks to my Aunt Leah.Presents are next. Now who doesn't like presents?? Nobody I know. Anyway, we all assemble in the den and Pa hands out all the gifts. The excitement is in the air. "What did we get?" that is all we can think about. The little ones especially you want to watch. They are so funny. This is also picture time. We all get together and pose with each other and our gifts. It's great.Afterwards everyone sits around chatting and us older ones are making plans about what or where to go next. Usually one of us girls always spends the night with one of the other ones, so we have to decide on that matter too. We always have so much fun at the party. We all look forward to this one event every year. We never get to see everybody together at the same time and this is our only time. My Uncle Chuck lives in Ohio so they only get to come down once a year and that is at Christmas. We all look forward to getting to know one another again and just taking time to talk and laugh. Because when everything is said and done our heart is in our family.


Family reunions are when each side of your family gets together and have valuable time. At family reunion your relative show you love and support you through difficult situations. The most important part is the you get to see long Lot relatives that you were dying to see. Most family reunions stitch up break-ups between one another and the can prevent separation time. Reunions keep down the drama from each household. Many times when families plan them it shows that the members of your family have a positive outlook on life, like sticking together at all times. When people attend family reunions' emotions flow throughout the whole day till everyone is gone their separate ways. If a family reunion is something new to you:you will really enjoy moments like those of a family reunion.Reunions are based n a family's communication among each grandparent, sister, brother, and cousins. These people are the unity of everyone. Then location is the biggest part because everyone needs a nice convenient place that tis reasonable for everyone. Out-of-town trips are fun for an family reunion but not fun like being at hone giving your family coming to you. Money is a big component that is involve in being a family. If u know it or not their are dues to be paid. Dues should be no more than twenty-dollars. When you can't pay dues your other fellow family members that happily love you will come out their pockets and make sure you com out to attend this gathering.My family reunions are always fun. I just attended an family reunion Saturday the 8th at tan clubhouse. It was exciting, especially for me because I'm like the star of the family. People actually jump up running to me to give me hugs and to speak. All my baby cousin run all around me as a whole and they swam me. Always there is little kids all around me. Yes, I just love the attention because it makes me feel special. When I arrive I feel the vibe of an good time with my family. My family consist off plenty of characters so i never know who I'm going to run into.The food is always good so if you have good cooks there should not be a problem with nasty food. We had dishes from green beans which I hat spaghetti, ham (to let yo in on a secret i don't eat pork). We had plenty of chicken and hamburgers. Lots of cakes and drinks, most people thinks that's the best part of getting together with family is "the food", which is kind of true, but it not important.The music is always selected by an older person from the family because if someone young picked the music the elders would be upset. The music that is played is good enough to make both parties satisfied. When i go to my reunions i always like to bring my boyfriend at the time to show him off, but i also bring friends of mines too. When all these fun things end it just spoil your night but there is always next year. The next year probably would be more exciting than he previous time.


At first glance we appeared to be very different people, but as you can see from our personal family time, we share similar qualities and values. We hope that you can take away from our experiences the love and joy that we receive from our families and apply them to your own family lives.