Family

Over the Holiday Seasons many people go around to visit their families, especially around Thanksgiving and Christmas. I like to visit family and to be close with them, any day or around the holidays. Up until this Christmas everyone in my family would get together on Christmas Eve and go to my grandmother’s house. We would all have a good time and have fun exchanging gifts and talking to the people we may not have seen in a while.

The dictionary defines family as “any group of persons closely related by blood, as parents, children, uncles, aunts, and cousins:”, but when you really think, isn’t a family much more than just a blood relation? These people that are blood connected to you have spent their whole life with you, building up a relationship, sharing good times and love. The blood line is just what connects you to each other biologically but what really connects a family is love. The love you have for your parents because they do so much for you. Family is the love for your aunts and uncles, grandparents, and cousins.

I love my grandparents and I visit them regularly. Why, just two days ago I went over. I like to visit and talk, along with taping some interviews with them. I love hearing the stories that they have to tell and just seeing them. They are not going to be here forever so you need to connect with them as much as possible, to build a strong, loving, relationship. Sometimes I just go over to see them and sometimes I even sleep overnight. I love my grandparents and truly do love them.

Last year on Christmas Eve a small family fight ensued and ever since that year the relationship of different family members has not been the same. Christmas Eve at my grandparents’ house was not the same. When we got there, we were the only people there. It seemed like such an empty room compared to past years where there were regularly 15 people there including my grandparents. I always remember it as being a loving night where family always came together no matter the circumstance. Most of the time I was hanging around with my little cousin and was not often part of the Christmas scene.

Needless to say, I love my family, but did not see a lot of them over this holiday season. The only people I saw were my grandparents and my aunt who came over today. Christmas is not just about the presents or the money, it’s about the family. Love is what keeps a family together, not these little trials and tribulations between certain members.

I don’t understand how a family could be so separated the way some are. I am fortunate to have almost all of my family close and not scattered far away. The only people that really can understand your life is your family. I have a very close connection with my immediate family. To not be with your family is like to be lost in a world where you have no one to really understand you.

I feel bad for the people that don’t connect with the older or sick members of their families. These people will not be around forever so I feel that you should really try to connect with them as long as you can and to preserve the memories you had together.

I guess I may be a little different in the way I think of family. But I always try to see family whenever the opportunity arises because I don’t see them too often anymore. When you’re a small kid you really don’t understand the importance and effect that family has on your life. But when you experience a death, you try to change back time to be with them more.

Best Wishes,

Jeremiah