The holidays are a time for people to gather with their families and create all of those unique memories that everybody has. Like pretending to look past the $100.00 bill in the Christmas card that your grandparents brought for you or sitting at the kid’s table with your cousins during dinner. The holidays are time for family, more importantly, extended family. But, that’s just not possible for me.
My mom’s side of the family sits 6,479 miles away in São Paulo, Brazil where Santa Claus wears swim trunks to beat the summer heat, and my dad’s side of the family won’t celebrate together anymore since my grandmother passed away, even though my grandfather still makes his way down from Reno to celebrate with us. So, I’m left with my mom, dad, grandpa, two brothers, three dogs and multiple loud WhatsApp video calls trying to celebrate with family on the other side of the equator.
But, that’s not all. We also have a few more families who celebrate the holidays with us. This is my “extended family.” These are the “cousins” who I will sit with at the kids’ table while my friend and I listen as our older brothers tell us all their college stories. These are the “aunts” and “uncles” who watch as the kids grow older and reminisce about the days when we all went to school together. These are the people who I will trade Secret Santa gifts with in my living room on Christmas Eve in our matching pajamas.
The conversation of holiday plans used to fill me with a sense of humiliation and disappointment as I was reminded why I was not able to celebrate with my “real” family, but now I treasure the opportunity. I get the benefit of experiencing a multitude of cultures during the holidays, like the Filipino lumpia served as a Thanksgiving appetizer, and get to gain insider knowledge about the colleges I am applying
to. The holidays serve as a reminder that even though my family is repairing its own bonds with each other, I still get to experience the joy that my “extended family” brings.
