Multicultural Holidays

Multicultural Holiday
Rhiannon Yee

Holidays. We’ve all been driving our teachers crazy bouncing up and down in our seats with excitement. Winter break is so close- we can almost taste it. Break means a lot of things. Sleep. Food. Family. For most of us…presents!
I for one get to celebrate Christmas three times. I have a very large family that’s about as diverse as a large patchwork quilt. Well, here’s the thing. I’m half Mexican and half Asian. Chex-mex. Mexicanese. Whichever you prefer. Frankly, I like to call myself a hybrid. So I celebrate Christmas once with my Asian side of the family, once with the Mexican side, and then with my immediate family. And each celebration is vastly different. Let me give you a little peek into my kind of Christmas.
Every year, on Christmas Eve, I have a nice, big dinner with my dad’s side of the family. This is the Asian side. Usually we all go out to a Chinese restaurant and totally pig out with all the extended cousins and aunts and uncles. Now keep in mind that although I may seem pretty exotic because of my ethnicity, in reality I’m just plain old American. Sadly, I can’t speak a word of Chinese and the only Spanish I know is what I’ve learned here at school. So I don’t know all the translations of the foods I eat but I’m going to try and explain to you anyways. Heaping platters of yummy fried fish, sizzling meat, seafood, and of course…noodles! I love it all. Well, except for the chicken feet. I stay away from those. Inside the restaurant, it's extremely loud, with the servers and customers alike chatting away gaily at the top of their lungs and dishes and utensils clanging together loudly. After hanging out for a while, my parents and brothers and I get to home and open presents. It’s nice to have a little down time after all the cheerful chaos at dinner and before the impending chaos from the next day.
By Christmas morning, I have already gotten two sets of presents. Pretty sweet! Anyways, although I may be getting a little old to still have a stocking, there is nothing quite like tearing your bright red stocking off the fireplace and finding whatever goodies your parents (oops! I mean Santa) got you as soon as you wake up in the morning. You know you secretly love it. From there, my family and I would pack up the car and set off for my grandmother’s house for our third Christmas celebration. This time it’s the Mexican side we celebrate with,and I must say, it is a whole lot quieter at my nana's house. We have tamales, which is a very traditional Mexican dish to serve at Christmas. My grandma makes the best posole in the world. Posole is a Mexican soup with beef, hominy (sort of like dried corn), and you can put all sorts of other condiments in it, like lime, onions, or cilantro. It’s quite delicious and perfect for a chilly winter day. I also love to eat pan dulce, which means “sweet bread” in Spanish. Sugar covered doughy goodness. Yum…I’m getting hungry just talking about all of this!
Although both sides of my family seem to be on different ends of the spectrum, both are still a blast to spend the best holiday of the year with. I can’t wait for this Christmas and I hope all of you have a very merry Christmas and a fabulous New Year!

EDIT 1

Multicultural Holiday
Rhiannon Yee

Holidays. We’ve all been driving our teachers crazy bouncing up and down in our seats with excitement. Winter break is so close-we can almost taste it. Break means a lot of [change to "many"] things. Sleep. Food. Family. For most of us…presents!

I for one get to celebrate Christmas three times. I have a very large family that’s about as diverse as a large patchwork quilt. Well, here’s the thing. [change period to colon] I’m half Mexican and half Asian. Chex-mex. Mexicanese. Whichever you prefer. Frankly, I like to call myself a hybrid. So I celebrate Christmas once with my Asian side of the family, once with the Mexican side, and then [another time] with my immediate family. And each celebration is vastly different. Let me give you a little peek into my kind of Christmas.

Every year, on Christmas Eve, I have a nice, big dinner with my dad’s side of the family. This is the Asian side. Usually we all go out to a Chinese restaurant and totally pig out with all the [do you mean "my", since you're speaking for your viewpoint? ] extended cousins and aunts and uncles. Now keep in mind that although I may seem pretty exotic because of my ethnicity, in reality I’m just plain old American. Sadly, I can’t speak a word of Chinese and the only Spanish I know is what I’ve learned here at school. So I don’t know all the translations of the foods I eat but I’m going to try and explain to you anyways. Heaping platters of yummy fried fish, sizzling meat, seafood, and of course… [change ellipsis to comma] noodles! I love it all. Well, except for the chicken feet. I stay away from those. Inside the restaurant, it's extremely loud, with the servers and customers alike chatting away gaily at the top of their lungs and dishes and utensils clanging together loudly. After hanging out for a while, my parents and brothers and I get to [return] home and open presents. It’s nice to have a little down time after all the cheerful chaos at dinner and before the impending chaos from [of] the next day.

By Christmas morning, I have already gotten [received] two sets of presents. Pretty sweet! Anyways, although I may be getting a little old to still have a stocking, there is nothing quite like tearing your bright red stocking off the fireplace and finding whatever goodies your parents (oops! I mean Santa) got you as soon as you wake up in the morning. You know you secretly love it. From there, my family and I would pack up the car and set off for my grandmother’s house for our third Christmas celebration [might want to clarify the time frame here, i.e. "in the past __ weeks/days."]. This time it’s the Mexican side we celebrate with, and I must say, it is a whole lot quieter at my nana's house. We have tamales, which is a very traditional Mexican dish to serve at Christmas. My grandma makes the best posole in the world. Posole is a Mexican soup with beef, hominy (sort of like dried corn), and you can put all sorts of other condiments in it, like lime, onions, or cilantro. It’s quite delicious and perfect for a chilly winter day. I also love to eat pan dulce, which means “sweet bread” in Spanish. Sugar covered doughy goodness. Yum…I’m getting hungry just talking
about all of this!

Although both sides of my family seem to be on different ends of the spectrum, both are still a blast to spend the best holiday of the year with. I can’t wait for this Christmas and I hope all of you have a very merry Christmas and a fabulous New Year!

Multicultural Holiday
Rhiannon Yee

Holidays. We’ve all been driving our teachers crazy bouncing up and down in our seats with excitement. Winter break is so close-we can almost taste it.

I, for one, get to celebrate Christmas three times. I have a very large family that’s about as diverse as a large patchwork quilt. I’m half Mexican and half Asian. I like to call myself Chex-mex or Mexicanese. So I celebrate Christmas once with my Asian side of the family, once with the Mexican side, and then another time with my immediate family. And each celebration is vastly different. Here’s what my kind of Christmas generally looks like.

Every year on Christmas Eve, I have a big dinner with the Asian side of my family. Usually we all go out to a Chinese restaurant and eat our fill with all of my extended cousins and aunts and uncles. I may seem pretty exotic because of my ethnicity, but in reality I’m just plain old American. Sadly, I can’t speak a word of Chinese and the only Spanish I know is what I’ve learned here at school. I don’t know how to say the names of the foods I eat correctly but I’m going to try and explain anyways. Heaping platters of yummy fried fish, sizzling meat, seafood, and of course, noodles! I love it all, except for the chicken feet. Inside the restaurant, it's extremely loud, with the servers and customers alike chatting away gaily at the top of their lungs and dishes and utensils clanging together loudly. The boisterous, cheerful atmosphere of the restaurant always makes me feel happy and puts me in a good mood because it seems like everyone’s having a great time just being with their loved ones. After hanging out for a while, my parents and brothers and I return home and open presents. It’s nice to relax a little and have some peace and quiet after all the cheerful commotion at dinner. This is my favorite Christmas celebration, and it feels a little more special to just be with my immediate family, excitedly ripping paper off presents and anxiously watching to see if my brothers like their gifts or not. I feel so lucky to get such great presents and to have such a great family!

By Christmas morning, I have already received two sets of presents. Anyways, although I may be getting a little old to still have a stocking, there is nothing quite like tearing your bright red stocking off the fireplace and finding whatever goodies your parents (oops! I mean, Santa) got you as soon as you wake up in the morning. From there, my family and I pack up the car and set off for my grandmother’s house for our third Christmas celebration in the past two days. This time it’s the Mexican side we celebrate with. It’s much more calm at my nana’s house, which really makes me appreciate the wonderful diversity of my family. We have tamales, a very traditional Mexican dish to serve at Christmas and posole, a Mexican soup with beef, hominy (sort of like dried corn), and you can put all sorts of other condiments in it, like lime, onions, or cilantro. It’s quite delicious. I also love to eat pan dulce, which means “sweet bread” in Spanish. Sugar covered doughy goodness. I’m getting hungry just talking
about all of this! But the best part is just to sit around the table, eating posole and chatting with my family and just feel warm and content. Christmas is definitely my favorite holiday.

Although both sides of my family seem to be on different ends of the spectrum, both are still a blast to spend the best holiday of the year with. I can’t wait for this Christmas and I hope all of you have a great holiday!

Holidays. (awk) We’ve all been driving our teachers crazy bouncing up and down in our seats with excitement. Winter break is so close- (delete … the”-” thing) we can almost taste it.

I, for one, get to celebrate Christmas three times. I have a very large family that’s about as diverse as a large patchwork quilt. I’m half Mexican and half Asian. I like to call myself Chex-mex or Mexicanese. So I celebrate Christmas once with my Asian side of the family, once with the Mexican side, and then another time with my immediate family. And each celebration is vastly different. Here’s what my kind of Christmas generally looks like.

Every year on Christmas Eve, I have a big dinner with the Asian side of my family. Usually we all (delete: all) go out to a Chinese restaurant (the way you describe the food and restaurant… you should change it to: got out to a Dimsum restaurant) and eat our fill (reword: our fill. And delete the remains of the sentence after the end parenthesis) with all of my extended cousins and aunts and uncles. I may seem pretty exotic because of my ethnicity, but in reality I’m just plain old American. Sadly, I can’t speak a word of Chinese (LIES!) and the only Spanish I know is what I’ve learned here at school. I don’t know how to say the names of the foods I eat correctly but I’m going to try and explain anyways. Heaping platters of yummy fried fish, sizzling meat, seafood, and of course, noodles! I love it all, except for the chicken feet. Inside the restaurant, it's extremely loud, with the servers and customers alike chatting away gaily at the top of their lungs and dishes and utensils clanging together loudly. The boisterous, cheerful atmosphere of the restaurant always makes me feel happy and puts me in a good mood because it seems like everyone’s having a great time just being with their loved ones. After hanging out for a while, my parents and brothers (change to: my family) and I return home and open presents. It’s nice to relax a little and have some peace and quiet after all the cheerful commotion at dinner. This is my favorite Christmas celebration, and it feels a little more special to just be with my immediate family, excitedly ripping paper off presents and anxiously watching to see if my brothers like their gifts or not (change to: reactions for their gifts). I feel so lucky to get such great presents and to have such a great family!

By Christmas morning, I have already received two sets of presents. Anyways, (delete anyway, btw, anyway doesn’t contain an “s”) although I may be getting a little old to still have a stocking, there is nothing quite like tearing your bright red stocking off the fireplace and finding whatever goodies your parents (oops! I mean, Santa) got you as soon as you wake up in the morning. From there, my family and I pack up the car and set off for my grandmother’s house for our third Christmas celebration in the past two days. This time it’s the Mexican side we celebrate with. It’s much more calm (calmer) at my nana’s house, which really makes me appreciate the wonderful diversity of my family. We have tamales, a very traditional Mexican dish to serve at Christmas and posole, a Mexican soup with beef, hominy (sort of like dried corn), and you can put all sorts of other condiments in it, like lime, onions, or cilantro. It’s quite delicious. I also love to eat pan dulce, which means “sweet bread” in Spanish. Sugar covered doughy goodness. I’m getting hungry just talking
about all of this! But the best part is just to sit around the table, eating posole and chatting with my family and just feel warm and content. Christmas is definitely my favorite holiday.

Although both sides of my family seem to be on different ends of the spectrum, both are still a blast to spend the best holiday of the year with. I can’t wait for this Christmas and I hope all of you have (I hope everyone has) a great holiday!

Winter break. We’ve all been driving our teachers crazy bouncing up and down in our seats with excitement. It's so close we can almost taste it.

I, for one, get to celebrate Christmas three times. I have a very large family that’s about as diverse as a large patchwork quilt. I’m half Mexican and half Asian. I like to call myself Chex-mex or Mexicanese. So I celebrate Christmas once with my Asian side of the family, once with the Mexican side, and then another time with my immediate family. And each celebration is vastly different. Here’s what my kind of Christmas generally looks like.

Every year on Christmas Eve, I have a big dinner with the Asian side of my family. Usually we go out to a Dim sum restaurant and eat as much as we can get. I may seem pretty exotic because of my ethnicity, but in reality I’m just plain old American. Sadly, I can’t speak a word of Chinese and the only Spanish I know is what I’ve learned here at school. I don’t know how to say the names of the foods I eat correctly but I’m going to try and explain anyways. Heaping platters of yummy fried fish, sizzling meat, seafood, and of course, noodles! I love it all, except for the chicken feet. Inside the restaurant, it's extremely loud, with the servers and customers alike chatting away gaily at the top of their lungs and dishes and utensils clanging together loudly. The boisterous, cheerful atmosphere of the restaurant always makes me feel happy and puts me in a good mood because it seems like everyone’s having a great time just being with their loved ones. After hanging out for a while, my family and I return home and open presents. It’s nice to relax a little and have some peace and quiet after all the cheerful commotion at dinner. This is my favorite Christmas celebration, and it feels a little more special to just be with my immediate family, excitedly ripping paper off presents and anxiously watching to see if my brothers' reactions to their gifts. I feel so lucky to get such great presents and to have such a great family!

By Christmas morning, I have already received two sets of presents. Although I may be getting a little old to still have a stocking, there is nothing quite like tearing your bright red stocking off the fireplace and finding whatever goodies your parents (oops! I mean, Santa) got you as soon as you wake up in the morning. From there, my family and I pack up the car and set off for my grandmother’s house for our third Christmas celebration in the past two days. This time it’s the Mexican side we celebrate with. It’s much calmer at my nana’s house, which really makes me appreciate the wonderful diversity of my family. We have tamales, a very traditional Mexican dish to serve at Christmas and posole, a Mexican soup with beef, hominy (sort of like dried corn), and you can put all sorts of other condiments in it, like lime, onions, or cilantro. It’s quite delicious. I also love to eat pan dulce, which means “sweet bread” in Spanish. Sugar covered doughy goodness. I’m getting hungry just talking
about all of this! But the best part is just to sit around the table, eating posole and chatting with my family and just feel warm and content. Christmas is definitely my favorite holiday.

Although both sides of my family seem to be on different ends of the spectrum, both are still a blast to spend the best holiday of the year with. I can’t wait for this Christmas and I hope everyone has a great holiday!

Winter break. We’ve all been driving our teachers crazy bouncing up and down in our seats with excitement. It's so close we can almost taste it.

I, for one, get to celebrate Christmas three times. I have a very large family that’s about as diverse as a large patchwork quilt. I’m half Mexican and half Asian. I like to call myself Chex-mex or Mexicanese. So I celebrate Christmas once with my Asian side of the family, once with the Mexican side, and then another time with my immediate family. And each celebration is vastly different. Here’s what my kind of Christmas generally looks like.

Every year on Christmas Eve, I have a big dinner with the Asian side of my family. Usually we go out to a Dim sum restaurant and eat as much as we can get. I may seem pretty exotic because of my ethnicity, but in reality I’m just plain old American. Sadly, I can’t speak a word of Chinese and the only Spanish I know is what I’ve learned here at school. I don’t know how to say the names of the foods I eat correctly (comma) but I’m going to try and explain (them) anyways (anyway). Heaping platters of yummy fried fish, sizzling meat, seafood, and of course, noodles! I love it all, (change comma to: …) except for the chicken feet. Inside the restaurant, it's extremely loud, with the servers and customers alike chatting away gaily at the top of their lungs and dishes and utensils clanging together loudly. The boisterous, cheerful atmosphere of the restaurant always makes me feel happy and puts me in a good mood because it seems like (as if) everyone’s having a great time just being with their loved ones. After hanging out for a while, my family and I return home and open presents. It’s nice to relax a little and have some peace and quiet after all the cheerful commotion at dinner. This is my favorite Christmas celebration, and it feels a little more special to just be with my immediate family, excitedly ripping paper off presents and anxiously watching to see if my brothers' reactions to their gifts. I feel so lucky to get such great presents and to have such a great family!

By Christmas morning, I (would) have already received two sets of presents. Although I may be getting a little old to still have (keep) a stocking, there is nothing quite like tearing your bright red stocking off the fireplace and finding (to find) whatever goodies your parents (oops! I mean, Santa) got you as soon as you wake up in the morning. (run on sentence) From there, my family and I pack up the car and set off for my grandmother’s house for our third Christmas celebration in the past two days (reword past two days). This time it’s the Mexican side we celebrate with. It’s much calmer at my nana’s house, which really makes me appreciate the wonderful diversity of my family. We have tamales, a very traditional Mexican dish to serve at Christmas and posole, a Mexican soup with beef, hominy (sort of like dried corn), and you can put all sorts of other condiments in it, like lime, onions, or cilantro. It’s quite delicious. I also love to eat pan dulce, which means “sweet bread” in Spanish. Sugar covered doughy goodness. I’m getting hungry just talking
about all of this! But the best part is just to sit around the table, eating posole and chatting with my family and just feel warm and content. Christmas is definitely my favorite holiday.

Although both sides of my family seem to be on different ends of the spectrum, both are still a blast to spend the best holiday of the year with. I can’t wait for this Christmas and I hope everyone has a great holiday!

Winter break. We’ve all been driving our teachers crazy bouncing up and down in our seats with excitement. It's so close we can almost taste it.

I, for one, get to celebrate Christmas three times. I have a very large family that’s about as diverse as a large patchwork quilt. I’m half Mexican and half Asian. I like to call myself Chex-mex or Mexicanese. So I celebrate Christmas once with my Asian side of the family, once with the Mexican side, and then another time with my immediate family. And each celebration is vastly different. Here’s what my kind of Christmas generally looks like.

Every year on Christmas Eve, I have a big dinner with the Asian side of my family. Usually we go out to a Dim sum restaurant and eat as much as we can get. I may seem pretty exotic because of my ethnicity, but in reality I’m just plain old American. Sadly, I can’t speak a word of Chinese and the only Spanish I know is what I’ve learned here at school. I don’t know how to say the names of the foods I eat correctly, but I’m going to try and explain them anyway. Heaping platters of yummy fried fish, sizzling meat, seafood, and of course, noodles! I love it all…except for the chicken feet. Inside the restaurant, it's extremely loud, with the servers and customers alike chatting away gaily at the top of their lungs and dishes and utensils clanging together loudly. The boisterous, cheerful atmosphere of the restaurant always makes me feel happy and puts me in a good mood because it seems as if everyone’s having a great time just being with their loved ones. After hanging out for a while, my family and I return home and open presents. It’s nice to relax a little and have some peace and quiet after all the cheerful commotion at dinner. This is my favorite Christmas celebration, and it feels a little more special to just be with my immediate family, excitedly ripping paper off presents and anxiously watching to see if my brothers' reactions to their gifts. I feel so lucky to get such great presents and to have such a great family!

By Christmas morning, I (would) have already received two sets of presents. Although I may be getting a little old to still keep a stocking, there is nothing quite like tearing your bright red stocking off the fireplace to find whatever goodies your parents (oops! I mean, Santa) got you. From there, my family and I pack up the car and set off for my grandmother’s house for our third Christmas celebration in the past couple of days. This time it’s the Mexican side we celebrate with. It’s much calmer at my nana’s house, which really makes me appreciate the wonderful diversity of my family. We have tamales, a very traditional Mexican dish to serve at Christmas and posole, a Mexican soup with beef, hominy (sort of like dried corn), and you can put all sorts of other condiments in it, like lime, onions, or cilantro. It’s quite delicious. I also love to eat pan dulce, which means “sweet bread” in Spanish. Sugar covered doughy goodness. I’m getting hungry just talking
about all of this! But the best part is just to sit around the table, eating posole and chatting with my family and just feel warm and content. Christmas is definitely my favorite holiday.

Although both sides of my family seem to be on different ends of the spectrum, both are still a blast to spend the best holiday of the year with. I can’t wait for this Christmas and I hope everyone has a great holiday!