Ethics Key Assignment - Honors Week 15 Norah Takehara

The family traditions that my family has created were generated pretty recently. I do not belong to an organized religion so the traditions we have do not stem directly from a specific religion. Instead, over the years my family has added special dinners or get-togethers into our lives that have become our traditions. 

One of the annual traditions that my family has is having a huge Thanksgiving dinner with friends and family who don't really have a place to go for Thanksgiving. The day starts with the Thanksgiving Day Parade in the background while my entire family is busy in the kitchen cooking, baking, and setting up. My dad will be teaching my brother how to cook turkey, my mom will be making multiple pies at once, and I'll be cooking some vegetarian main course while helping to set up tables in our living room. Somehow we manage to cram everyone into the house at two different tables and eat the many different kinds of food other people brought. While the whole day takes a lot of work and energy this tradition never grows old. 

Another tradition that my family has been something we have done since I was young. On Christmas Eve, my family makes Christmas sugar cookies that we would leave out for Santa when we were young. This tradition has carried on ever since and every Christmas Eve we roll out cookie dough, cut out the cute shapes, bake them, and decorate them. Another Christmas tradition we used to do was make reindeer food to sprinkle on the driveway. We would mix glitter and oats together and run outside to sprinkle the "reindeer food" everywhere. We have since stopped doing this but it is a tradition that I hope to do in the future if I have a family of my own.

One of my favorite family traditions has to do with travel. My parents have always found ways for us to travel if it's a camping road trip or flying us to Japan to visit family, they have always prioritized travel. A tradition we have is going to Maui, Hawaii to surf, snorkel, and explore the island. Traveling is something that I hope I will continue to do throughout my life and I hope to create my own travel traditions as I become an adult. 

I have always been surrounded by love, laughter, and hard work, qualities that I have acquired over time from watching my parents as I've grown up. As I become an adult I hope that I will be able to create my own traditions and become my own successful person. Going to a great university to study to become a physical therapist or a speech pathologist, two professions that can help people is a dream that I have. Many of my goals for my future have been modeled after the qualities of people I admire and helped me grow as a person.