Winter Holidays vs. AWOL Discussion in class

My Christmas this year was not as traditional in comparison to my past experiences celebrating Christmas. I give and recieve presents, and have a special dinner with my family. Most of my Christmas memories include decorating our Christmas tree, waiting until Christmas morning to find presents under the tree and have few-several family members stay at my house for the holidays. But this year we decided not to get a tree, we (me and my brothers) got our present the day before Christmas Eve so we would be able to use our present on Christmas, and we did not have family over so we had our Christmas dinner with just my parents and sibblings. And I celebrated New Year's at a friend's house. Connecting to the American way of life, it is typical for most Ameicans to be celebrating these holidays or other similar ones. People spend lots of money on Christmas presents and food (similar to people spending money on food on Thanksgiving). And it is also a way for Americans to spend time with our family which is a typical aspect of the American way of life, if you look at all the old sitcoms, Full House, The Cosby Show...etc. which in a way represent how the typical American would like to live or is living, they are all very family oriented, trying to send the message to Americans that family is a group of people we can depend on, and the show has each representation of each family member. The father cutting the Christmas ham, the mother making the mashed potatoes or whatever they are typically supposed to cook. The son following in the father's foot steps, the youngest child being teased and not treated as well as the older kids, but they still love them, and so on.

On new years it is the American dream to go out to times square and watch the ball drop, which is fairly close to me but personally i'd rather not be out in the cold lost in the crowd for hours on end thank you very much. Most people go for the memory of it and be able to brag about it when they go back to whever ever they come from and they come out to see the celebrities. The American way of life valuing fame is closely related to this. And after the ball drops we all think of the highlights of the previous year and new years resolutions where we come up with ways to better ourselves and using the new year as an opportunity to start on a clean slate and change for the good. Of course we can imagine that these resolutions will not always come true but i think it is a good attempt which relates back to the idea of America being the country of opportunity where if we want change, we can make it happen and even if we have the most outragous dreams we can achieve them in America.

In class today we discussed the dominant mode of new years. which include passive activity, having a fun time (time where you don't have to think) and alcohol. which I agree with and the way I spent my new years proved it so. We also discussed how the typical American way of celebrating new years contrasts with the way those who practice the jewish religion where they beg for forgiveness from all of those they have harmed and from god. Where in the American way of celebrating new years, they do dedicate themselves to the new year but they commit sins by having affairs with other people during the holiday parties.

We also talked about how most Americans celebrate new years by watching the ball drop in times square and gather with family and friends around the tv to watch it. It is a way for Americans to be connected to all the people in times square living the American dream of spending new years watching the ball drop through the media and through the tv.