Holiday Traditions

During the holiday season different families have their own traditions. When Tom and I got together I learned that Italian families have a pasta dish during Thanksgiving. I thought that was cool. My family had ham. The real difference was in the sweet potatoes. His mom made them in a round dish and used big marshmallows in the shape of a smiley face. My mom used a rectangular dish and placed small marshmallows evenly throughout the dish. When we got married and combined our traditions we compromised, but not when it came to sweet potatoes. His way, not everyone got to enjoy the marshmallow goodness in every bite. I won him over to my way.

You can imagine how different things must be for other cultures that come to live in the US. In talking to my boss last week, I asked what he was doing for Thanksgiving. He is from Brazil and so he was spending it with some friends from Brazil. I asked if they had turkey and stuffing, etc. He said yes to some extent but probably not they way I would. So I told him that I would bring in a little taste of our traditional Thanksgiving Day dinner.

Monday, I came in with my containers of food so that he could have it for lunch. It was crazy busy and he didn’t have time to eat lunch. He took it home. My boss has five kids, four of which are at home. When he was heating it up, everyone wanted a taste. They all went crazy for it, so much so that his wife would love for him to pay me and instead of coming to work, go to their house and cook Thanksgiving dinner. They would buy the food and all I have to do is cook it. I said I wouldn’t mind, because I would do be doing something I love to do – cook.

Doing something you love to do, no matter what it is, is very satisfying. I love to write and even though I don’t get paid for it, it gives me life and is one of the most gratifying things I can do. I’m not the best writer there is. My grammar is terrible, but I love to tell a story. I love seeing the words on the page. I love seeing the story come to life and developing characters that you can care about. I’m enjoying starting my second book and watching it develop before my eyes.

What gives you life? What do you enjoy doing that you don’t get paid for? Hey, I may never get paid to write books, but I’ll still write them. Life is short, do what you love to do.

© Nadine Z. 2006