Sophie's+Mosaic

Traditions
Family traditions happen in all sorts of ways all over the world. They can be small or they can be large. They can be happy or sad. They can be for good or bad reasons. But in some way, these are what tie families together. They can happen because of deaths or birthdays. But no matter what happens, it's still a family tradition. My family has many traditions, from vacations to holidays. A great example of a vacation tradition is Lake Placid, where we go every summer and winter. A holiday example is the morning of Thanksgiving; we always have a race in Valley Green. At about two o’clock after the race, we go to my grandparents' house and have Thanksgiving dinner there. We also have traditions, like having brunch with my grandfather, every Sunday morning. Our family doesn’t have too many crazy traditions, but each member of the family has their own little traditions. To some families, traditions are very important, but to ours, not so much.

Family traditions happen in many shapes and forms. In Dahl’s case, it happens in Norway with grandparents. Dahl’s tradition began with a four-day trip from England. The trip to Norway came in five stages: stage one was a taxi, stage two was a train, stage three came in the form of another taxi, stage four was a boat (which made everybody sea sick), and finally, stage five was another taxi to their grandparents' house. The family only stays one day with their grandparents, but it is definitely the best day of them all. The day at the grandparents' starts with a giant feast, but with only three foods: a massive flounder, hollandaise sauce, and boiled potatoes. Following dinner, there are many rounds of toasting, where, if you are young, you are likely to get drunk. The reason for toasting was to thank each person in the family; to do that, everyone was toasted once by each person.

The next morning, everyone in the family got up early to go over to a little island called Tjöme. On this island, there was only one hotel, and it was a very simple place owned by and elderly couple. Breakfast was the biggest meal of the day; there were more then 50 dishes to choose from. After breakfast, the family took a boat and went out into the open water. Every child in the family had to know how to swim because of how deep the water was. After a forty minute boat ride, they stopped at an island that the children called “the magic island” because it was such a beautiful place. This tradition happened every year for Dahl, until he got a job. That means that the trip to Norway happened for more then 15 years. Dahl brought this tradition up a lot in the book, which shows how important this memory was to him.

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