Personal Narrative : My Christmas Gifts

When I was about 10 years old my family and I took a vacation to Florida to see my great aunt Linda. It was a 14 hour drive down to Florida which is a long time in the car. We were going down there for a week. For the first two days we went to Sea World in Orlando, Florida. I was very excited to see my great aunt because I have never met her before. I knew that I was going to have fun on this trip.

During the winter of 1609-1610, 90% of the colonists perished in an episode now called the “starving time”. But did the starving time kill all of the colonists, or did something else have something to do with the sudden deaths. Some of the deaths may have been caused by starvation, but I think that deliberate poisoning did the most damage.

In the past people were filled with prejudice and racism, but there was still good people. The book To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee was written in 1960, but set during the 1930’s. During this time the United States was going through a hardship known as “The Great Depression”. Another terrible act during this time was the mistreatment and segregation of African Americans. These things brought about prejudice people who did not want kind people to be free. Among the hate and distrust in To Kill a Mockingbird, Atticus, Mr. Raymond, and Calpurnia are the least prejudice.

Back in the summer of 2007, my family decided to board a plane and travel to the Bahamas for our vacation. When we got there, we were able to go around to many different places. One of the very first things my family decided to do was going down to the beach. Afterwards, we walked over to the pool to hang out. Later on in the week, my parents decided that we were all going to swim with dolphins. Throughout our trip, we were able to explore the area and experience many memorable events.

“Let us be grateful to people who make us happy, they are the charming gardeners who make our souls blossom,” Marcel Proust said. This quote suggests how being grateful for the people that you feel close to, will make you feel happier. A Christmas Memory by Truman Capote takes place during the Great Depression in a small Southern town. A seven year old boy named Buddy, and his friend are hit by the Great Depression. They do not have very many possessions, only basic necessities. The holidays are right around the corner so Buddy and his friend decide to make fruit cakes for all of their friends, even though they do not have much. They end up not having much money to get each other something for Christmas. In the end, they both decide that having each other is enough, and that they’re both very grateful for one other. One lesson that is taught in the story, is that often, people tend to only be grateful for materialistic things. However, in this story they’re grateful for one another. Similarly, in the short story The Gift of the Magi by O. Henry expresses the same theme of gratefulness through the development of the character traits and character conflicts. Both stories show that being grateful for the people that you feel close to, will make you feel happier.

It was the summer of fourth grade. My parents had promised me a trip to paradise. I wanted to go to the ocean and see all the beautiful marine life. I had been anticipating this since the day the trip was booked. I began to look up everything that there is to know about the ocean. The types of animals that live there, the temperature of the water, which was quite warmer than I had anticipated. The most intriguing part was the marine life. It was as if the ocean was a picture that humans can go into to. That is how beautiful the ocean can be all the time. I remember counting down the days on my snoopy calendar. My parents told me stories of the time that they went to the ocean and they saw the beauty first hand. They wanted me to have the same experience as they did when they were my age. The real reason that I wanted to go on this trip was to learn as much as I can about marine life. At the time I really wanted to become a marine biologist. That was my passion in life.

One sunny day, my parents decided to leave me in a camp on the cruise ship, so they could go and explore the rest of the cruise on their own. I arrived at the camp dorms with my dad.

I was in the 5th grade when I heard the very first remark, ” Rudolph the red nosed reindeer”. It was 6th-grade year, that I overheard from an assemblage that my nose was “huge”. It was 7th-grade year when they began to say it to my face, when it was no longer a mere whisper, but rather something I could hear a mile away. It was 8th-grade year, that a mutual friend told me the reason why my crush didn’t ask me out to the dance, was due to my nose being too big and it just made me “ugly”.

One sunny day in South Carolina, my family and I spent the day at a beach called Isle of Palms. We all decided to go since it was our only free day from my dance competition. We woke up extra early, just so we could spend the entire day there. By about 12:30 in the afternoon, we were all tanning and one of my dance friends showed up. she was really excited to get in the water, so I went in with her.

When I was ten the family decided to go on cruise to the Bahamas for a summer trip. We all were really excited to go. When the day came, we drove to Cape Canaveral to leave for the week.

Years ago, my Uncle Robert and My Aunt Liz had decided they wanted to sell their house and buy a 56’ yacht. Living aboard the vessel they often sailed for days, visiting different places up and down the Atlantic Ocean. One summer when I was about twelve my parents had to make plans to fly down to Florida for a few weeks for my father’s work. At the same time my uncle and aunt were planning a trip to Bermuda and they invited me to spend my summer vacation with them. I was absolutely thrilled at the idea because I had never been on a boat before and sailing the ocean for a week sounded like an exciting adventure. After the adults ironed out all the details I took a plane from my hometown of Chicago all the way to Charleston International Airport, where my uncle picked me up.

Every year, since when I was a little girl I remember that around Christmas time my family and I would celebrate a Cooney Christmas. The Cooney Christmas is celebrating Christmas with my dad's side of the family. We would always go to my grandpa Cooney’s house to have supper and exchange gifts together. It was decided between the family that once you turned 18 years old you weren’t able to receive gifts anymore. Of course this rule excluded my grandpa and Betty from receiving gifts. Recently, a couple years back it became too hard for grandpa and Betty to prepare the all of the food and prepare for the whole family. Therefore, instead we rotate between my dad and his two sisters houses each year hosting the party. The party has still been the

After the great two days at Disney, it was finally time to see the ocean. I was so beyond excited. I had been waiting fifteen years for this. We only had a short thirty minute drive to the ocean, but about fifteen minutes into the drive you could see the ocean in the distance. Talk about an “omg” moment. We got parked and I ran to the beach. It was exactly like I had pictured it. My uncle talked before we left for vacation about how bad the california ocean is in comparison to the Gulf, and apparently, almost anywhere else. But when I got there, I didn't care, I had absolutely nothing to compare it to. I was in love. We

Our family began traveling to Maine when I was around 10 .It's a gorgeous place but the water is frigid, and it took a couple of trips before I was willing to go in the water. I was finally inspired to do this because of a beach I found. It was so serene, so natural. I happened to have no bathing suit, but this was the kind of beach where you knew something like that wouldn't matter. So I took off my clothes, set them on some rocks, and then slipped into the water. It was freezing. I was only able to stand it for about 10 minutes of it, and then I stretched out on some rocks on an island about 50 yards from the shore. I needed the sun to warm me up. Well, as this was only my third trip to New England, I was not quite accustomed to the massive tides there. After

When I heard my parents talking about going to Disney World I was so excited. It was a long trip down to Florida and I could not sit still, because I was so excited. We finally arrived that evening and decided to stay in a hotel near the theme park. When it was time for bed I could not go to sleep for a long time, because I