My family has many traditions that we celebrate every year. Some of our traditions are ones that many other families have as well, but ours are unique because we bring everyone together. All of my uncles, aunts, cousins, grandparents, and even some of my parents’ aunts and uncles participate.

A tradition that my family has had for many generations is that for every holiday we select someone in our family to host a gathering and everyone in the family would stay at the host’s house where we would throw a big feast. Each branch of the family  would bring a selection of food and drinks that they chose and we would bring out a big table for all the food and drinks to go on. Then we would say a prayer and then line up and choose what we wanted to eat from the selections of food and drinks. After people were done eating, they would choose from a selection of desserts that each family member had made. My whole family  would stay for a day or two and visit until they had to leave.

Another tradition that we have is that we celebrate the birthdays of the ones who have passed away, like my grandma. We go to the coast every year and rent out the beach house that we originally rented out when we spread her ashes. We do this every year around January or February and while we’re there we do a bunch of fun activities such as sharing memories, walking on the beach, and going from store to store just looking around and shopping. On the last day of every visit, we would stop by a small store that would let us print whatever we wanted onto a hoodie or a t-shirt, or we would go to the candy store and fill up big bags with candy. Our last night there we would make a big bonfire and my uncle would take out his guitar and would sing some of my grandma’s favorite songs for hours and hours whether or not it was raining and we would stay out there as late as we could, or at least until the tide would come in.

Our last tradition, which I would also consider  to be a family trip, is that every year we choose a new place where everyone in my  family has agreed to stay, and in the summer we go there together. We mostly choose locations with lakes or rivers that allow boats or other water activities since we have a wake surfing boat and most people in my family also have boats or jet skis. We rent out a big houseboat that we stay in for about a week and every morning we wake up early, eat breakfast and then get on the boats and stay on the lake all day long. Usually we would meet up when it was lunchtime, tie up the boats, and blast music while we ate and hung out. We would head back in when it started to get dark and once we got back to the main houseboat we would start preparing dinner. The next day we would repeat the same process or would go on hikes or go ride quads if it was allowed wherever we went. Overall, my family has many different traditions that we throw to bring everyone together