The Thanksgiving Day that I had this year was something awesome. I think it is very interesting and important to learn something new in life. And traditions of celebrating this or that holiday is important as well as useful. I mean when you live in another country to know some particular customs about the holiday. The thing is that we do not celebrate such holiday in my native country. That is why I learnt many interesting facts about the Thanksgiving Day and the way it is celebrated. I really enjoyed the holiday, and I am looking forward for the next year when I will have an opportunity to celebrate it once again and recollect all traditions which are connected with the holiday.
As a foreign student I participated in the annual program organized to show us how the Thanksgiving Day is celebrated. One of the parts of the program was the dinner. Frankly speaking, it was my favourite part of the holiday. Other foreign students and our teacher were like a family. I liked the dinner not only because it was a very delicious, but also of the atmosphere which was during the preparation of the evening. The whole day I had a feeling that it would be a happy evening. I liked that feeling, because it was like a fairy-tale in which everything is possible. While preparation the teacher told us about the holiday. I learnt that the aim of the holiday is to celebrate harvest. In other words, the aim of the holiday is to God and everybody for warm relationships, help, and care. Many years ago it was a religious holiday, because people thanked to God for the harvest. Today, during the holiday people say “thank you” to everyone, not just God. The holiday is primarily celebrated in the United States, but it is also celebrated in other countries.
As I already said, there are many traditions during the holiday. Our teacher told us that several generations of one family gather together to celebrate the holiday. Each of the family has to say “thank you” to everyone who is present on the dinner. By the way, I liked the fact that the meal which is eaten during the Thanksgiving Day today is the same as it was several centuries ago. By the way, the first year when the holiday was celebrated was the 1621 year. One of the traditions of the Thanksgiving Day is to present gifts. The presents are the symbols of thanks to older people, relatives, and friends. For example, the usual gifts during the Thanksgiving Day are chocolates, flowers, jewelry, candies, etc. another tradition of the Thanksgiving Day is decoration of the house. Usually, American people decorate their homes with flowers and wreaths. We decorated the place where we celebrated the holiday as well. Other students and I used different lights to decorate the room in which we celebrated the holiday. I liked the process of decoration because we spoke about different pleasant things with my friends and our teacher. Now I understand, why American people enjoy this holiday: because it is one of the ways to unite with dear people. Another interesting and pleasant tradition is to send messages to different people to say them “thank you”, and other pleasant things. I prepared several messages and sent it to several people. I also received messages in which my friends and close people congratulated me with the holiday. I liked this tradition very much, it really made me smile. On the whole the Thanksgiving Day was very similar to Christmas and New Year Day: everybody sent greetings, and funny cards, presented pleasant presents, etc. I enjoyed the atmosphere of the holiday; it is a really kind holiday.
As I have already said, the dinner was magnificent and I liked it as well as the whole evening. Of course, it was rather challenging for us to cook all meals. As we did not know how to do it, our teacher helped us to do it. She explained that there are certain products which are considered the symbols of Thanksgiving Day: pumpkin, turkey, corn, cranberry, cornucopia, and beans. All they are used as ingredients to the holiday dinner. Our teacher told us that after we cooked the Thanksgiving Day dinner, we will be ready to cook dinner to another holiday, Christmas, because they are very familiar. The most difficult task was to cook the turkey. Our teacher explained us that many people call Thanksgiving Day a turkey day. That is why it was highly important not to spoil it. We added different herbs in order to make it more delicious and spicy. I should that it was so big, that one turkey was enough to feed our big company. I liked the holiday, and would like to celebrate it in my native land. I think my relatives would enjoy it as well, as this holiday serves to fasten relations in a family.
There many movies which can be used in the process of education and nursing. For example, the Mary Poppins is one of them. I liked the movie because it is one of the kindest and warm films. On the one hand, it is very interesting for children. On the other hand, it is like a lesson for them: how to behave, talk with grown-ups, and not to make mistakes. I liked the movie because it was colorful, and it was pleasant to watch the play of the actors. And the songs which actors perform were really nice. I liked not only music, but also lyrics. They suggested interesting ideas to think about. I think that film should be watched not only by children, but also by parents. I think that very often parents forget what it means to be a child, that is why they do understand their kids. The movie offers ideas how to make children understand that their parents understand their world, their wishes, etc. what I liked most of all that the movie about Mary Poppins does not show anything bad. Unlike modern children cartoons and films, the Mary Poppins is totally kind. As for me, I learnt how to behave with children in order them to trust me. Moreover, it made me think that we are all children, even in fifty years old. And we should not forget about the beauty around us, and not dive into the routine of everyday life. I think that the Mary Poppins should be in every home where children live, because it is both entertaining and educative, and popularizes only positive emotions and ideas.