Many things bring up emotion in peoples’ lives. Different situations make people react differently depending what the event was. Though, most people can all relate to the emotions family has on us. It could be death, family gatherings, or simply a quick chat on the telephone. My mom, brother, sister, and I all flew to Canada for the winter break of 2006. It was a family gathering not only to visit my mother’s family but, for my siblings and I as well. My brother, Fletcher goes to school in Washington state therefore I see him only a few times a year. My sister, Katia has just finished school in Washington D.C. so I see her for long weekends from time to time. We are a very close family, though at this point in time we rarely see each other all together.
With all of our duffels in a row ready to be put on the airplane my sister, mom, and I all flew to Canada and meet Fletcher at the airport. It was a typical December 21 morning in Virginia, not too much snow to speak of. Upon our arrival we were weather struck. We came out of the airport with inches of gravel imbedded snow pushed to the curb. Next, we rented a five passenger red car and began our journey to our aunt’s house. We ate hot fondue, which warmed up everyone especially since it was below freezing outside. With my small cousins beginning to yawn and become sleepy it was time for us to go to our rental house. The rental was about a half hour away, but closer to my grandmother’s house. As we walked inside the cottage it was nice to plop our selves down to a nice bed and fall asleep to have a fresh start to the next day.
As we slowly woke up to the sun bursting in the window it was time to visit my grandfather in the nursing home. As we walked through the hallways of the nursing home, we finally reached the last door leading to see my grandfather bundled up in a gray fleece blanket and a long sleeve zip up on. He was sitting on a rather large chair in the corner looking out a window. He seemed reserved and a little scared. I looked to my right and saw my mom in the corner biting her fingernails. Her eyes and nose were leaking like a faucet that was left on through the night. I look across from me seeing my ant looking around the room. We were there at least half of the day, he had cheered up by the end.
A few days passed and then it was Christmas! This was an emotional day as well. Though, this was a different feeling that I had previously felt seeing my grandfather. I was so happy being with my family and enjoying the scenery outside, icicles on the trees, snow covering the tips of houses. Christmas decorations filled the small town of “Louiseville”. Again, we went to visit my grandfather and the whole nursing home was full of Santa banners, red and green streamers, and ornaments hanging from a white frosted tree. Other families were visiting their loved ones as well. Everyone came together that day with the same sense of love and being all together. The day before we left, my family and I went on a walk near the rather small house. The walk was not even a mile going there and back, but on the way we had a huge snowball fight! My brother threw one at my sister and she fell right on a thick sheet of ice. We all laughed as she sat there, and then she finally stood up, laughing. I handed her a nicely packed snowball and she threw it right at him hitting his neck. Then, we stopped, there was a beautiful waterfall next to us. It was huge. It had snow chunks falling from it as the water tumbled several feet below us. As the day came to an end, it was time to pack our bags and head home the next day. It was an emotional day because I knew it would be another six months before we would be all together again. As we headed for the airport and said our goodbyes it was another beautiful winter day with patterned white snowflakes falling from the white sky.