Fall

Fall

Fall is one of my favorite times of the year!  I absolutely love the transition from summer into fall.  The whole situation of the weather changing to the color of the leaves on the trees is just beautiful.  Around this time of the year, my family and I begin to cook our family tradition recipes.  We try to make as many recipes as possible on the weekends considering the weekdays are truly hard to find time let alone have the family together due to everyone’s hectic schedule.  Some of my all time favorite family recipes are: pumpkin bread, pumpkin pie, candy apples, apple crisp, cream of broccoli soup, lasagna and many more!  All these recipes have been passed down from my grams, who just recently passed away a few months ago, who taught me everything I needed to know about cooking.  Around this time of the year it has always been a tradition to cook some recipes, celebrate my grams birthday and prepare for Halloween.  Halloween was always special to me.  I have some really great memories of Halloween with my family and friends.  I remember being so excited about dressing up for Halloween that I would plan my costume out weeks before Halloween even approached.  The smell of my grams cooking filling the air in the house while my sisters and I were getting ready to go trick-or-treating and having food ready so that we can all eat after a long day of walking.  It is truly sad that time has gone by so quickly.  I will forever cherish the memories I have of my family, friends and our traditions together.  I catch myself reminiscing on the past a lot of times and having this overwhelming feeling of such happiness.  I will never forget my childhood and I will always carry my family traditions with me which I will pass down to my family one day and make new ones in the future.        

Vocabulary:

Transition- A process of change

Beautiful- Pleasing to look at, listen to

Tradition- Custom or belief, long established pattern in a group of people which have been passed down

Hectic- Always busy

Cherish- Love, care value something highly

Reminisce- Tell about the past

Vocabulary Cloze Exercise: Put the correct vocabulary words in the blank.

1. I love it when my parents _______________about my childhood.

2. Working full time and going to full time can be ________.

3. Family recipes which have been __________ are what I look forward to the most during the holidays.

4. My family always taught my sisters and I to __________our elders. 

5. The ______________between a teenager and becoming an adult is a hard process.

6. The Botanic Gardens in the Bronx is __________________.

Grammar Point: This passage has many verbs in the present tense.  List those verbs and any other words that indicate the present tense such as, celebrate and so on.

 Grammar Exercise:  Write a paragraph explaining some of your family’s traditions that you still do today.  Be sure to use present tense verbs and any vocabulary words.