Christmas Eve

Every year, it’s the same place, same time, and same people. At my gramps and
grams’ house at 5 pm.
Dinner is different every year. Sometimes it’s squash, maybe it’s rice with unique
vegetables. My grams always makes us delicious vegetarian meals. No matter what
it is, it always smells earthy and like it was made with love.
After dinner, we moved to the living room. It’s small with tons of furniture, but we
always managed to fit. My gramps got oplatek out. We passed around a piece of it
and each ripped off a tiny bit so we could all have some. The taste is interesting—
like stale paper. Although that doesn’t sound too appetizing, for some reason it is.
While we passed it around my gramps would remind us of the people we had lost in
previous years. That’s what we eat the oplatek for in our family, so they can
continue to live on in a special way.

Halloween
Halloween night was one of the most magical days of the whole year. I got dressed
up, had my dad put face makeup on me, and talked to my sisters about what we
were gonna do at huckleberry. Even though we did the same things there every
year, it was still so much fun talking about it and knowing it’s going to happen.
When we got inside, it was like a whole different universe. Everything was spooky;
the trees were spooky, the dark night sky was spooky, and everyone we saw looked
spooky. We were so excited that we ran to each house to walk through it and look at
the decorations. Bonus points for getting candy at the end of the house
walkthrough.
Those nights were when I had the best imagination and felt the most magical. As
you grow older, you start to grow out of it, but memories will always remind you of
the amazing times you had.

New Year’s eve

After the hour car ride to Lisa’s, my dads girlfriends house, we’d walk in and see a
variety of food on the table, with decorations all put up. She was extra with
holiday’s, but that was what made it so fun.
As we ate sushi and junk food, we’d hear a faint sound of jazz music. It was Lisa’s
favorite type of music to listen to, no matter the occasion.
She had three boys that me and my sisters played with since we were young. At
New Years before the clock hit 12, we’d play for as long as you could ever imagine.
Tag, jumping on the trampoline, or playing a new made up game was what we
usually did. When it was close to 12, we each grabbed a blowout and counted down
from 10 to 1. When the clock hit 12 we blew through the blowouts and said happy
new year to each other.
By 12:05 am, we’d pass out from the playing we did earlier.

Easter
The last easter I celebrated I can barely remember.
It was our tradition to first get the clue cards, then find your basket and eggs using
the clues.
That year I was having seizures and if they got bad enough I would lose my memory
for the time being, even though I was still functioning and able to do things.
I only remember little snippets, one small snippet being seeing my sisters by my
side and reading the clue with me. They helped me find each of the eggs, the one I
remember being underneath the TV in a basket where we used to keep DVDs and
video games.
We ate peeps together and traded and ate candy until our stomachs hurt.
Despite that I could barely remember it and it was my last easter, my sisters made
it much more fun.
It was the most fun easter i’ve ever had.

Thanksgiving
We basically had assigned seating on thanksgiving at our gramps and grams’
house. I would usually sit in the main dining room table along with my sisters.
My grams never failed to make the most amazing dinners, sometimes I had to ask
for the recipe. She’d never give it to me, though, because it was always grams’
secret recipes. Maybe one day i’ll be able to find out what they are.
We asked around the table what we were thankful for. When it got to my turn, my
gramps would ask, “So what are you thankful for, Paige?” I usually gave it a minute
and put deep thought into it, because I didn’t like to say a simple answer like my
family or the food on the table.
One year I said I was thankful for salt. My family laughed and laughed and agreed
with me, telling me it was a good thing to be thankful for.
After we ate dinner we talked about various things. Sometimes we would talk until
10 pm and me and my sisters wouldn’t be able to keep our eyes open in the car, but
it was always worth it.

Fourth of July
My best friend, chloe, and her family invite me to Ludington every year to stay in
their cottage. The first year I went, we went to go see fireworks at the city beach.
We set up beach chairs and waited for them to start. It was amusing to watch all of
the people pack onto the beach. I swear it was over 500 people.
I didn’t usually watch fireworks so they were still kinda new to me, so when I
watched them it was like a fun and new experience for me.
The loud ones shook my whole body, and while I was startled, it made me feel alive.
It was amazing to watch the beautiful colors and shapes of the fireworks.