12:00 Class
Nothing lasts forever and your life is constantly going changes. These changes can sometimes be so small that you don’t even think about it. Things such as changing your hairstyle. Your life can go from good to bad or from bad to good or anywhere in between. My point is things either change or end sometime whether you want it to or not. That’s just how life is. Some people are more fortunate than others and I believe it’s possible to overcome any obstacle in one’s life. I remember my entire family went through a change before but fortunately it wasn’t a bad one, it was just one I considered big before. If anything it helped us in a few ways.
Back in the end of the 1990’s and in the beginning of the 2000’s a lot of my relatives used to gather at my uncle’s apartment or very few times at my cousin’s house in Pennsylvania to celebrate Christmas. My uncle had an artificial Christmas tree every year. He would decorate it with colorful ornaments and he’d also hang different Christmas cards on it and then he’d placed it in the far left corner of his living room near the windows. There were also some other small decorations around his apartment like pictures of Santa Clauses.
When the guests came in they would put the presents they brought under the tree. The presents were in all sorts of wrapping paper from plain colored sheets to shiny colorful ones with snowmen or other Christmas related images. We would go to his home on Christmas Eve and then wait until it was midnight to open the presents and then my family would stay up all night celebrating. When I went entered his home I got a feeling as if all my problems were gone. Of course this is how I feel now but before, as a kid, all I thought about was what I’d get that year.
During those years many presents were given. Many expensive things were being given to each other. For the kids, things such as game systems or other toys that recently came out in stores were given. The adults didn’t get as much gifts as the kids but they still received stuff like clothing and beautiful dishware and fancy cups that shined brightly in the light. I guess it was all the money they had that made them buy so many things because in their old countries they never had much.
Me and the other young children opened their gifts first. We had big smiles on our faces as we ripped the wrappings apart under the window that showed the big snowflakes falling from the dark orange sky. When we were done we gave out the other gifts to the adults but some of them preferred to open their gifts in their own homes. My uncle played Christmas songs on his home stereo, which was a gift from my father, when the clock read 12:00am. The Christmas songs were only on in the moment when the gifts were being opened. After that the music changed to Latin sounds such as Salsa and Merengue that my relatives would dance to.
As the years went by the Christmases weren’t the same. Christmas became mainly only for the kids because the adults didn’t get any gifts. Every year there was less presents which were still great but less money was spent. Money was becoming a problem. Some financial problems were starting and some of my relatives including my father lost their jobs. My family never completed college so they didn’t have a secure career only common jobs. We still go to my uncle’s home but only the little kids get gifts. However nobody complained since we all understood the importance of money and what was more important was to be reunited as a family to celebrate the end of the year festivities.
Fortunately my relatives who lost their jobs got new ones and some even went to college. We learned to save money after being forced to however it was helpful in the long run. Even though the money issue got better, presents are still only given to the little kids. It sort of stayed like a tradition.
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