Kenneth Flores

Mr. Maslonka
English 101 Section 18
23 February 2015
Our Last Christmas; Final Draft
San Lorenzo, Puerto Rico: woken up to the sounds of birds and cocks singing in the morning,
although it is hot there was a cool breeze that flows in and around my house. Although it is a
small house, only one floor, the undeniable beauty of my surroundings overwhelms me with joy.
Looking outside and seeing all the mountains and houses spread around the hill tops, the sky as
blue as the ocean with little to no clouds. Rainy days are very often the cause of gloomy and
boring days, but not today. The environment could not be any more breath taking. It is Christmas
Eve and Puerto Rico glows in happiness, with families planning out their festivities. Family
members travel to the island to be with their love ones, as did I. This is such a beautiful time to
be in Puerto Rico seeing as so many traditions are celebrated during this period. I start my day by
pulling our vegetables out of trees and the ground. I grabbed panas, batata, name, malanga,
yautia, guineo, and platanos.
I dropped off the vegetables to my mom and climbed the steep hill in front of our house to walk
over to my stepdad's house. Before I could get there I climbed on top of a huge rock and stared at
all the mountains, all of the trees, grass and plants are so colorful, so green, so beautiful. The
smell of country, the cows and bulls, chickens, and horses overwhelms me with joy. A feeling
that I would not trade for the world and for a second I was immensely happy, but always kept
thinking about something that was slowly killing in the inside. I never showed it because I had to

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be strong for my family because I know when the time comes they will need me to be the strong
and help them overcome a moment that was sure to come.
Once I get to his house, the sadder, but yet such beautiful part of our tradition begins, which
it's why I went over to help kill the pig we had been raising. It is a long process that starts with
being able to subdue the pig and tie it to the table and to kill it. You have to be precise with a stab
to the heart because if the pig suffers and does not die within ten to fifteen minutes the meat will
be tainted and cannot be eaten because it is considered a sin. After that is done we go through the
process of cleaning it out and and cutting it to make pork chops. Once I got that all done, I
quickly walk back to my house and the smell of the cooked vegetables makes me drool of hunger
and we all gather together and eat such authentic food, but every moment that i experienced with
all this beautiful things was quickly overtaken by the same dark thought and played day in and
out all day through my head.

My family and I quickly get showered and dressed to go to my grandparents house. We go up

and down beat up roads but we get to see all of the animals and landscape that makes Puerto
Rico such a beautiful place. At my grandparents house we gather around with a lot of my family
member cousins, aunt, uncles and we just talk and eat more and more food it is an incredibly lazy
day, but the main purpose of the day is to be with your family.
I was so happy because I was with my family and I look on the faces of my family and they all
seem to be happy worry free as if nothing in the world mattered, but on the inside it felt like I
was being skinned; it seemed if I was the only person that could not stop thinking about this as if
I was the only one that could not be happy for more than five minutes. For a while my granddad
was diagnosed with cancer and he was giving a short time to live. It was detected too late and I
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kept thinking about all the time loss and how often I could not be over his house and talk to him
or ask him for help because I live in the United States. We talked for hours about his whole life,
he asked me about my life what I want and no matter what I said he supported. As I saw him
laugh I was overtaken by emotions and began to cry and his response will always be memorable.
He looks at me and laughs and tells me You need to be a man. You are going to die too and so is
everyone else. The only thing that matters its what you do with your love ones while they are
alive and healthy. And I will die happy because I know you will make me proud. Although he
was only about four feet eleven inches tall, he was such a tough man and intelligent. Immediately
he made feel like I had nothing to worry about like all that weight that I had been carrying was
off my shoulder. He told me I will always be with you. When you need me just call me and
before you know it we will all be reunited and spending everyday together. I did as he told me I
quickly made it a point to myself that I will be humble myself and stop thinking so negative. It
was like I won a long battle I was having against myself that just drained all the energy out of me
and i quickly regained. That christmas eve, we all forgot our stress and worries and just spend
our time enjoying each others company. That was the last Christmas I spend with my grandad,
but it and forever will be the best Christmas Ive had.

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