Family Gatherings: Memories and Celebrations from Grandma's Home - Essay Sample

Introduction

Since I was a young kid, I always looked forward to family occasions and holidays. My family and I used to hold different events in our grandmother’s home. We would gather in our grandma’s place and prepare various meals and give stories about their past and current situations that they have gone through in life, both good and bad. As we all know, holidays and celebrations are family time, and it would not be any fun without food and entertainment. Also, grandmother believed that the only way to bring her family close is through special occasions since they help build strong relationships between family members, and it is the tradition of our family that has been passed on from one generation to another. During holidays and special occasions, the entire family would gather in my grandmother’s place where everyone would give their work, school, or life experiences. I remember one of my aunties had contagious laughter that would make everyone else laugh even though he/she was angry. My grandmother was a very humble, loving, caring, and social; however, if she got angry, she could be strict, punitive, and a great disciplinarian. I remember when my cousins and I sneaked out of our homestead and entered in our neighbor’s farm to steal mangoes. Granny was angry at us, and she gave us a beating that I will never forget in my life. I remember from that beating one of my cousins got a scar on his left arm that reminds us of that day. However, we still forgave granny, although she had given us a lifetime beating since we knew that stealing was not right. During the special events, the elderly family members would teach us significant values such as family and how to preserve family traditions and other moral principles.

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It was a tradition in our family to celebrate almost every special occasion together, such as birthdays, weddings, and funerals. I remember during one particular holiday, my family and close relatives gathered in our grandmother’s place to celebrate a special occasion, which was my grandmother’s birthday. As it was in our culture, different meals were prepared and shared during such events as a family. We gathered in granny’s homestead, prepared various types of food that were to be shared on a special occasion. Therefore, family time was very significant and the best in the family. Every member of the family would give stories about their life experiences, and we would learn about each other’s strong and weak areas, and we would help each other to improve in their weak areas. I remember I had my uncle who was good at mathematics and business, and since I was weak in math’s I would spend most of my evening hours with him so that he could teach me how to tackle different mathematics problems so that I could improve my grades.

During such celebrations, it was a tradition in our family that everyone should take part in the preparations and help in performing different tasks such as cooking, washing, serving, and cleaning the compound. Since I loved the cleanliness, I was always among those who were assigned the cleaning duties. I woke up early in the morning and started cleaning the compound before everyone had woken up so that I could finish my tasks first and start playing with my younger and some elder cousins. However, I remember I was very courageous and at the same time a quarrelsome kid, at one time my elder cousin pushed me down when we were playing, and we started fighting before my mother stopped us and gave us a punishment to wash that day’s dishes so that we could talk things out and solve our differences. Although I was quarrelsome, I would always ask for forgiveness, and things could go back to normal. Therefore, I asked for my cousin’s forgiveness, and we even became close friends.

I always loved to sing, and during my granny’s birthday, I performed some music that I had composed for her special occasion. After the performance, I presented my gift to grandma, which I had asked my friends to make back at my school, which was an art image of her when she was young. Granny was so happy, and she thanked me a lot for reminding her of her youthful days. After everyone presented their gifts, the day ended with joyful music and dances.

A day after the birthday celebration, one of my elder cousins suggested that we sneak in the neighbor’s farm to steal mangoes. And being the ambitious kids we sneaked into the farm and started to pick mangoes when one of my aunties noticed that we were nowhere to be seen within the compound. My grandfather asked one of my uncles to look for us around the neighborhood since we could not have gone far. Unfortunately, uncle spotted us on the neighbor’s mango tree, and he approached the location without making any noise. We believed he was a witch because no one saw him coming towards the tree, all we only heard his loud voice, which was as loud as thunder demanding that we all come down from the tree, and no one should try to escape. When we went down the tree, he tied our hands with a rope and escorted us to grandma’s place.

On arrival at granny’s home, we found everyone waiting for us, and they looked at us with disbelieve and so much furry. Our Granma’s looked at us like an angry cat ready to attack, and she grabbed a cooking stick that was on the table and gave us a beating of our lives, which until today I have never forgotten. I remember one of my cousins got a scar on the left arm that is still visible even today. Since that day, I learned that taking something that does not belong to you or someone’s property without their permission is wrong. I knew that I should always ask for something instead of stealing. Despite the painful beating, we forgave our grandmother, and she prepared us a delicious meal that we all enjoyed together.

That holiday celebration has remains to be a memorable day in my life, and even though I experienced a lot of difficult and dire situations, I learned so many things about my family, about life experiences, and other moral principles. I also learned that some family traditions are essential in someone’s life as they help create lasting memories; therefore, I have always looked forward to holidays and family gatherings.