Kiersten Owens
Jones/1110
August 28, 2015
Christmas Eve Traditions
For most people the first book they think of from when they were a kid is probably If You Give A Mouse A Cookie, Goodnight Moon or Where the Wild Things Are,but for me it is The Night Before Christmas. As long as I can remember every Christmas Eve my dad has read The Night Before Christmas to my little brother and I. As cliche as it is to read that book on Christmas Eve I believe each time it truly sparks my love of reading or writing and times with family.
The moment I first remember having a love and excitement for reading was my little brothers first Christmas Eve. I remember that day because of how excited I was as a five year old for him to hear the story and to have someone else to share the tradition with. I remember being so anxious to read the book that I didn’t even care about any of my presents I got at our family Christmas that day I just kept asking “Can we go home now?” and “When are we gonna read the story?”. Finally after what seemed like ages we arrived home and I remember running to the book shelf and grabbing the book. I waved it in my dads face saying
“Here! Here! Here! Read it! Please!”
“In a minute, first you need to get the cookies and milk for Santa.” My dad tells me.
So I run with my short tiny legs to the kitchen grab the cookies and ask my mom to pour a glass of milk. I placed the cookie and milk on the table by the tree and sat down in front of the tree in my favorite spot. Then, here comes my dad carrying the book, but my little brother is not with him.
“Where’s Tyler?” I ask.
“He’s in bed, it’s too late for him to be up.” My dad tells me.
I was so disappointed. All I wanted was to show my baby brother the greatest book in the world and he was asleep. As a five year old, that was a big deal for me so of course I acted like it was the end of the world. Then, because I was so upset my dad decided it would be okay to go read the book in my little brothers room, but he told me I would have to be very quiet so I did not wake him up. I instantly was a hundred times happier just because my little brother would be in the same room as us when we read the book. Looking back at it now I realize how silly it was to get upset over that and that reading to my sleeping brother means he never really heard the story that year.
As I got older I started to think that I was too old for my dad to be reading to me, but as I matured I realize I should treasure all the moments I have not just with my dad, but with all of the people in my life.
Before writing this paper I never thought about how much reading has really impacted my life in a positive way. It taught me to share my love of something with others, never give up, treasure the time I have, and that when something goes wrong it usually is not as bad as I think it is. This tradition my dad started with my brother and I will live with me forever. I hope that one day when my children are asked “How did you end up where you are today as a reader/writer?” they will have an amazing story about when their mom read them a certain book at a certain time that changed their perspective on reading or writing. The Night Before Christmas brought great childhood memories and truly sparked my enjoyment of reading and writing. Till this day I still have that same five year old excitement whenever I do good on an assignment, read a great book or write an amazing paper, and I always want to share my excitement with others.