It's Christmas time again, the time of hopes, joys, and forgiveness. It's the time that I always have the good feeling inside me. Every year at this moment, I like to be alone by myself to think. I think about many things that consider important to me. They're including my past, my pr...

Christmas Traditions Christmas always comes as a very special time for our family. We celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ three times; once with each set of grandparents and once with just our family. Tradition plays a huge role in the way we celebrate each year. Never changing a thing Christm...

Gridlock All I can do is ask myself every year "why do I wait?" Every year I tend to wait to do all my Christmas shopping until the night before. I do not know why I do it, but I do. Christmas Eve of 2001 was the worst I have ever been through. It is Christmas Eve 2001; I am walking ou...

"24 Things" 1. Your presence is a present to the world. 2. You're unique and one of a kind. 3. Your life can be what you want it to be. 4. Take the days just one at a time. 5. Count your blessings, not your troubles. 6. You'll make it through whatever comes along. 7. Within you are so man...

Life of a Rich Man Christmas is my favorite time of the year. This is when I walk around practicaly eating my way through the day. There is food everywhere and people are so cheery and daydreamers that they do not stop and look at the pretty, washed dogs to feed, over the ...

The rush is on, the stores are closing, there's no time left. WAIT get a hold of yourself, 30 minutes and counting. People scurry around with good intentions but no direction. My hands are full; my legs tired and boy do my feet ache. I maneuver my already overwhelmed limbs threw the hordes of l...

There's more to being a man that seeing how many phone numbers you can get or who you convince to sleep with you. Being a man means bearing responsibility and accepting the consequences for your actions. This means the most to me because of my pop, Leonard Smith. He's really my little b...

A REMEMBERED PLACE I remember all too well the place known to me as my true home. The last time I was there was when I was ten years old. It was closing in on Christmas Vacation 1991 and my mother said that she would take me. It was approximately around the late teens of December when we b...

The whole course of the book takes place in a rest home in California. Holden, the narrator, is telling his doctor about what has happened to him during the last Christmas break. He is going to school at Pency Prep. He has been kicked out, along with many other schools. He is expected to leave...

I hate gift exchanges. I hate the mystrey, I hate having to buy something for someone you barely know, I hate recieving that gift you never wanted and having to pretend like its the golden earings or bubble bath you hoped and dreamed of. And I hate the one gift exchange that made me hate all the r...

Throughout The Catcher in the Rye Holden is searching for something from the adult world. Many of the adults who surround Holden's life fail to give him what he needs from them. From the first chapter when Holden visits old Spencer to the end where he flees from his beloved teacher and friend...

Middle School Band This past weekend I went home to visit my parents. They live about twenty miles away from Chicago in Northwest Indiana. Well it turns out that when I went home Friday night my old middle school was having their winter concert. I arrived to the gym around 7:00p.m., and sat d...

Happiness sometimes finds you when you least expect it. It is often said that whenyou are looking for something, it will be harder to find. A similar saying would be "At watched pot never boils". When you finally accept the cards as they were dealt, someone shuffles the deck! But change ca...

Smiles On a cool December day, my classmates and me went to a rest home to sing Christmas carols to the elderly. At the I was in 4th grade, and it was my first time going to a place like this and I couldn't help but feeling a little nervous, but at the same time I was anxious. My teacher, M...

Chloe Cox April 24, 2000 Jules de Gaultier stated, "Imagination is the only weapon in the war against reality." I think the "war against reality" is the process of aging and imagination is our naiveté that shields us from the frightening world. By imagining that si...

Defying Societies Roles For many years, women have struggled and fought for their right to vote. In 1920 women were granted this right, which meant that the government acknowledged their role as citizens in society. Before being legally declared citizens, many women had already begun to gain...

One year, a basketball team set out on what they thought would be another successful season. They had trained hard during the off-season and were prepared to face whatever came their way. They started the season on a rough note with a mediocre showing at a thanksgiving tournament. Then, one ...

There once was a princess in a far away kingdom called Geneva. The princess's name was Juliana she wanted to see the outside world so she asked to go to a certain city but her father did not approve of the idea. She begged and begged to go her mother agreed that she should go. Finally her fathe...

Taking It for Granted Looking back on my childhood a smile comes to my face. I have many memories that I know I will cherish forever. I remember the little innocent things, like getting into my moms make-up and destroying it in the process; the things that got me in trouble, like playing salon wit...

The strict dictionary definition of marriage is "to unite, to become one". A person will find a life-long companion to experience laughs and cries with. This joyous custom is rich with happiness and fulfillment because it is based on love. Commitment, friendship and experience are qualitie...

Through Thick and Thin Friends are appreciated the most in times of need. They calm you down when you are stressed and comfort you when you cry but first and foremost they are there when you get in trouble. A couple of friends that are shining examples of sticking together in times of tr...

With an exhausted sigh, Dirk Crozier unlocked the door to his business office at exactly 8:53 to begin another night of work. As he walked through the doorway, he threw his hat in the general direction of his coatrack. It missed, of course, but Crozier didn't bother to pick it up. He car...

It happened for as long as I could remember. I was ten and my sister was four. I am middle- height with light brown hair, which goes blond in the summer. I have pale skin, and when the heat and sunlight touch it, my skin develops in to a sea of freckles. My sister has brown hair like mine. She is sh...

The Last Splash My mother made me take swimming lessons every spring so that I would be able to enjoy my summer by the pool safely. There was always a fear inside of me because I knew that after some point, my feet would no longer be able to reach the bottom. No matter how much I resisted at...

My Best Friend It is not fully recognizable who your best friend really is until he or she is gone. Many people remember their best friend from when they were little kids as maybe the boy down the street who came down and played GI JOE, or the girl next door whom you had daily tea parties with....