“Christmas Traditions”

Kids, teenagers, adults and even grandparents look forward to Christmas

for different reasons. For some, they are just in it for the gifts, others for the money,  for some  

they’re excited to be reunited with their families and for the others, they can’t get enough of the parties and the  food that is going to be served. People usually go out of town or country for Christmas but, in our family we make sure that we celebrate it at home. Nothing beats the traditional way of celebrating Christmas.

There is nothing more enjoyable than sharing Christmastime with the people you love the most. Christmas is something we look forward to in our home. Christmas is more than a season of  giving of gifts ,attending of parties and eating our hearts out. It is a season where we celebrate the  birth of Jesus, the greatest gift we have received. It is the time to celebrate the reason for the season—Jesus!

Christmas Season is time when traditions are observed by our family. We usually put up the tree a week or so before December. By these time all the plates, decors and almost everything, even the candles in the house have been changed to those with Christmas motif or design. Christmas carols are played and we even have a compilation of Carols which we gift our friends with as  they enjoy listening to it. We also look forward to our  Advent wreath tradition, where we read excerpts from the Bible leading to the birth of Jesus, we light one candle per week and on the eve of Christmas we put the baby Jesus in his manger. Another tradition we observe is  attending  Christmas service where we celebrate with friends from church.

The most loved tradition of all is the Noche Buena or Christmas Eve dinner.  We have dishes that are staples in our family Christmas Eve dinner. It is something we look forward to. My grandmothers White beans with chorizo,salted pork and whole garlic and onions is the best!! The recipe has been with her family for centuries, She has been cooking it together with Beef Estofado  for more than 60 years. Her grandparents were originally from Spain and they grew up with authentic Spanish recipes, like paella, callos and a lot more but it is her white beans that we look forward to as we cannot and have not seen any restaurant  serving it.  The aroma of the beans cooking together with the other ingredients make you want to eat it now! Christmas dinner is composed of different kinds of pasta, but of course the star is our favorite, my mom’s  super ultra rich and creamy  baked macaroni. Although my dad’s spaghetti puttanesca is not far behind. We also have surf and turf,garlic butter mashed potatoes, mixed veggies on the side. My grandma’s chicken macaroni salad goes really well with the Christmas ham, Apart from the usual cakes, pastries, cheese and fruits, Christmas Eve Dinner is not complete without Fruit Salas which I have been preparing since I was 8!! No one makes the fruit salad other than me. I do variations and they always like it. Another dish which we prepare that goes well with Ham is another kind of beans, Baked Beans with Bacon and Brown sugar. This has been my dad’s favorite since he was old enough to eat.

Christmas to me is a celebration, which includes spending time with my family, decorating the entire house, inside and out, buying gifts. Doing the traditions this with the people I love is what means the most to me. Christmas dinner is special,  the  recipe of our Christmas staples are not
only formulas, but they are memories and traditions being passed down from
generation to generation. The tradition of preparing for the Christmas season and the celebration itself is something to look forward to every year and it is something I hope to carry on with my own family one day.

"How Tv Affects My Worldview"

In this generation, Television is a an essential appliance seen in every home whether you are rich or poor. It is part of everyone’s life. Even if you don’t watch it people around you, do. This form of media has a large audience base. Advertisers of products take advantage of this fact so they advertise on the hottest and newest shows on television. People who watch on the other hand do not realize that while enjoying their favorite television hey subconsciously  absorb the political, social and economic messages that are assumed in the program and its advertisements.

Television these days are so much different than it was decades ago. Today, we have hundreds of channels to choose from far from my parent’s time, they only had about five. Viewers are exposed to more information, whether it is good or bad is another story. Television, like the internet,  is a tool that can be used either for bad or good. On one hand it can be used to educate and allow people to see a world they might never have a chance to see in reality. On the other hand, television sometimes shows a distorted view of reality, which can damage people’s views of the real world, and this can influence how people think and behave. This is seen  in shows and movies where it is acceptable for  teenagers to be disrespectful, rebellious and uncontrollable. A lot of television shows have labeled or stereotyped different kinds of teens and this in a way pressures teen agers who watch the show to choose which teen they are. The surprising part is that most of the stories portray the respectful, obedient ones as the “doormat” who gets stepped on or bullied and the bullies are the ones made to be cool. Although some shows redeem the story in the end, sadly, it has already made the “bad side” more attractive and fun to the teen viewers who often look for role models in these kind of shows.

There was a time when I got pressured into being a different person/daughter to my parents. I would see people on TV sneak out of their houses, although I knew it was wrong, it felt like it was so cool and was a taste of independence, good thing I  did not act impulsively nor was I daring enough to have tried it. There is this inner voice in me that puts me in check. I am super close to my parents but there was a time when I distanced myself from them thinking it was “freedom” to do what I wanted to do without anyone telling me otherwise.  I thought being close to my parents would make me less cool or less accepted until I realized that all of us have a different beliefs, standards and view of the world.

As a saying goes, “Do not judge yourself

through someone else’s eyes.” I came to understand these more when I realized that I am who I am, I am my beliefs, choices and values.  I know what defines me and will not allow the standards set by the television shows as to what beauty is, or what a teenager is, nor what morality is define me.  

Television is not bad, you just have to have to know your boundaries and limitations. It shouldn’t dictate how you live your life. For as long as  television is used  to teach lessons in morals and produce good role models for children to look up to then television can be  an excellent educational instrument. If, however television has shows  drugs and violence in prime time shows they should see to it that they are responsible enough to make sure that the consequences of drugs and violence are properly explained. They say that you are what you eat, in the same way I believe  we are what we watch so we should be careful of what television shows we watch. The effects of a program go far and beyond the show’s airtime.

It is a reality that what seen  on TV influences people in society, in different degrees. Television has the potential for both good and bad effects, as responsible members of society we must not watch programs that depict more negativity and those with no redeeming value. If we stop watching these kind of shows, producers will stop producing these shows as it will not make them money. In the end, it still is our choices that make up our worldview.

“You gotta be fit n’ right”

From what I’ve been hearing, they say that FIT N RIGHT is 

the first and only juice drink that is clinically

proven to help you give the body that you’ve always wanted. It contains L-Carnatine that helps you burn 

fat and B Vitamin that helps you speed up our metabolism. One of the reasons why people are so 

attracted to it is because of its tagline, “Looking good never tasted this good.” It makes their target 

market, which are the people who want to be healthy and people who want to lose weight and look 

good want to buy because they know it is not like the other bitter drinks or blant drinks that help you 

lose weight. FIT N RIGHT does not have a foul smell. Its taste is actually pretty pleasing. The other reason 

why it is so appealing is they get people who already have perfect bodies as their model. They made 

losing weight look easy even if its not. Since people really want to lose weight, they buy the product. I 

am not saying that it does not work but, it takes hard work to be able to reach your goal.

“AFFECTIVE OR EFFECTIVE?”

There is a commercial which promotes buying more Colt 45 drinks to get a chance to win a date with 

Christine Reyes. In the last part of the commercial, there were guys crowding outside her door, and 

when she opened it, she was wearing something enough to just cover her private parts. There is another 

version of the commercial where she was lying down and a man was rubbing or massaging her when she 

was wearing a bikini. It caught my attention not because the commercial was interesting or inviting, but 

because I found it distracting and inappropriate.

I believe that you should respect yourself.

Being almost 

naked worldwide is one way of inviting people, specially men to disrespect you. I have nothing against 

women or girls wearing bikinis but, I think the idea of the commercial is not right. It defeats the purpose 

of having self-respect.