Remembering the True Christmas Sprit.

As the Christmas season is approaching, it is certain that everyone will be rushing to find the perfect gift. But has Christmas lost its true meaning? It seems that everyone becomes greedy during Christmas, instead of being thankful for what we have and the time we get to spend with our families. When I was little Christmas wasn’t so much about gifts, as it was family time. As I look back I realize I miss those days because it was less stressful and was used as a time to reflect. Christmas should be about giving to those who are less fortunate. Families who are deserve and are unable to provide for the simple things, such as food and shelter, let alone gifts for one another. Some families who choose to have a lot of children, and don’t have the means to support them, use Christmas as a free-be. Those families play the victim card and are lazy. I personality I believe that those families are selfish and undeserving of donations, because they aren’t trying to fix their fanatical issues. While there are families out there, who try everything in their power to make things the best they can. Those families are the ones that I was give everything I had to help. But one problem is how can we tell who is deserving and who isn’t? This Christmas my family and I are adopting a family to help make someone’s Christmas memorable. The one place I have not found one greedy family was in church. Now I’m not saying to go to church, or push my religious views on anyone. All I’m saying is most churches will ensure that your gifts will be given to the right families. In conclusion I think that we all need to be reminded of the true Christmas spirit.

It's Family Time!

It’s hard to pick just one holiday to say that my favorites, if I had to pick I was say Easter. I love Easter because it means spring is on its way and my family and I have so many traditions. My great grandma Kozma is from Poland, she taught us how to make perogies and all the other polish traditions. I and my family always go to the Broadway Market, to get a butter lamb and polish sausage. Ever since I was little she has been teaching me to speak polish. As I have gotten older I started to teach my little sister everything I learned from her. And once she is old enough to cook I will pass the perogies recipe to her. Every year my grandma Kozma, grandma Nancy, my mom, Allie and I get together to make over a hundred and fifty perogies, it is always too much fun to listen to music and talk about family stories. The best part is to eat the rejects. Once we finish it is amazing to look at all of the food we made, and to fell a sense of accomplishment.

Some other polish traditions we have is to eat cold food on Christmas Eve. The reason it has to be cold is because in the morning when we go to church, it is tradition to get our food blessed. Because it’s not the most appetizing meal, my dad and I started our own tradition. Every year before Christmas Eve dinner we stop at McDonald or Burger King, to get something to eat. It is one tradition that I intend on keeping and passing it down to my children. I can’t wait until I’m older and I get to start my own traditions. ( I need six words, thanks)

My Fav Book!

When asked what is my favorite book. I answered the same way that most teenage girls would, Twilight. Stephanie Myers has a true gift for writing about fantasy. Her books engulf you, as if you are actually there. When I read the saga it was truly amazing. I never thought I would be so drawn in to a story about such an unrealistic topic. When I was first thought about the saga I was hesitant, because so many people were obsessed about it. After much thought, I decide to give the books a try. I was truly amazed of how good it was. I couldn’t put it down. After I finished the saga and realized it was a truly brilliant saga. I recommended the books to my mother, who read them in four days and my best friend, who also fell in love with them. But the twilight saga isn’t the only thing I have read. Another book I have truly fell in love, that I could read over and over again, is The Summer I turned Pretty. This book is more realistic and shows the struggles a young girl goes through. She finds out her mother’s best friend is diagnosed with cancer. Her parents have recently gotten divorced, and her brother was leaving for college and leaving her behind. With all of this going on, she is in love with a boy who doesn’t know she exists. This is actually a trilogy. As the story continues there are progression and the struggle she faces to be overwhelming her. She starts to slip in to depression and doesn’t know if life is worth living. The final book I recommend is How to Bake a Perfect a Life. It is about a younger girl who gets pregnant when she is on fifteen years old. She decides to keep the baby and raise it by herself. The book is very clever and gives you recipes for bread, cookies, and much more, and for a perfect life.

Bullying: Its Not Worth It

It seems lately that there have been more teen’s suicides than ever before. It is sad to think that some people don’t think there is a way to escape it, except death. With all this controversy about sex orientation, we should be a nation full of love and acceptance, not hatred and cruelty. No one should ever feel depressed or filled with self-hate because of others. Bulling is national crisis that everyone should be focusing on. No matter what age or sexuality. It is up to us to find a way to punish those who are responsible. I hope when I have kids that bullying will be something that no one will dare to do. Lady Gaga has been a big influence in this epidemic. She has been quoted saying this:

If you are not being bullied all I would say - cause I like to talk about the other side of it as well - is you know, be someone that nurtures, and if there's someone in your class that maybe doesn't have a lot of friends, be the person that sits with them in the cafeteria sometimes; be the bigger person.

I truly hope that people learn to respect others as they respect themselves. I don’t know one people who thrives on being bullied or picked on.

My Eighth Grade

Being from Saint John’s, there was a few more opportunity’s that I had, that others did not. With having smaller classes I was able to have a bond with my teachers. With having that said I it was much easier to get away with things. For example, ditching class and spending it out on the play ground with my friends. Or talking on AIM in computer class (they did not have a filter at that time). I only had three teachers for all of my classes. Each one of them taught two classes.
Eighth grade was the overall best year for me. During that school year it never felt like school, it was more fun. I have so many wonderful memories that I will hold on to for a life time. One of my favorite memories was getting the opportunity to conduct an experiment. I chose one of the more popular one, the reaction when mint mentos is put into a coke bottle. It turns out that diet coke, works well better than regular. It was amazing to see pop shoot up 15 feet.
Before my graduation we took a trip to Falling Waters, which was built by Frank Lloyd Wright. It was so amazing to see a house that was built over a water fall. I had no idea we had that type of technology in 1935. Also part of the house’s structure was built on a boulder, with a fireplace in it. It was such a beautiful home.
Another fantastic memory was my graduation. Even though it only had five kids including myself, it was something I would never forget. We had to opportunity to make a slide show of each one of us growing up in the school. It was great to look back and see how far each and every one of us had come.

Live, Laugh, Summer

  

               

Once school ends in June, everyone has plans for summer; weather it is getting a job or hanging out with friends it is having that freedom that makes everything worth it. The summer for me was busier than it has been in the past few years.    This past July I was busy volunteering for different things, such as the St. John’s lawn fete or helping out as a teacher for the St. John’s Vacation Bible School. It was a great opportunity and I was very thankful they asked me to be responsible for twenty-four kids. But on the other hand, it was very over whelming, to be in charge of that many kids single-handily.  I was very fortunate that they were self-efficient.  I also volunteered at the Lancaster Presbyterian Church with my grandparents and little cousins.  But this time I was helping out with three and four year olds. If I had to pick one thing that was the greatest summer memory it would have to be my very own private Fourth of July party.  One of our closest family friends loves to work with fireworks and puts on a private show including, steel wool. Now I understand that most people don’t know what steel wool is. But the best way I can explain it is by thinking of it as a massive sparkler (to the right).  It is the craziest thing I have ever seen in my whole entire life.  And now that I have seen it, no other Fourth of July firework show could ever compete. 

                Over all I had a wonderful summer, it was filled with lots of laughs and life long memories.  My only regret wasn’t being able to have some time to relax.  But I loved every minute of it and I wouldn’t change a thing.