Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday
because we always get together with my entire family and last year especially I
experienced more laughter than I had in some time. I will precede this story by
saying that I absolutely love my family. Ever since I left for school I have
really grown to appreciate how wonderful they are and how lucky I am to have
such a close relationship with them. Nothing makes me happier than the seldom
breaks in school when I get to go home and see my family.
We love to play games when we are
together during the holidays and one of our favorites is Catch Phrase. Everyone
in my family is pretty competitive except for my dad and his brother. They are
extremely laid back and they love to be on the same team and use that against
the rest of us. On this particular occasion, most of the adults had been
drinking for a while which may have added to the humor of the situation.
Nevertheless, it is something I will always remember as probably being the
hardest I’ve ever laughed in my life. My uncle and my dad had decided that they
were going to cheat and it took us a while to catch on. Every time it was their
turn they would say one adjective like “red” and the other would say a noun
like “glasses”. They would pretend that that was the right answer and pass it
to the next person. If you have never played Catch Phrase this may not make
sense to you, but basically the purpose is to get your team to guess the word
on the card by describing it to them.
It wasn’t until they started
laughing that we finally figured out what they were doing. I have never seen
either of them laugh so hard in my life—they were having trouble breathing and
their faces started to turn purple. I was actually a little scared my dad was
going to have a heart attack. Part of the reason it was so funny was because
their responses were unexpected and some of them were even inappropriate. They
were laughing primarily at each other because whoever had the card would be
surprised by what the other one would come up with. It was like that game when
someone says a word and you say the first thing that comes to mind. Most of the
time you laugh because you’re confused at why that just came out of your mouth.
The main reason we were laughing
was because they thought they were so funny. Part of human nature is to imitate
others. This is shown most obviously when someone yawns and most people near
them will unknowingly yawn as well. In this same fashion, when someone is
laughing at something it is normal for me to laugh too just because they find
it so funny. Naturally, we all were laughing nearly as hard as they were—partly
at their inappropriate responses and partly at how funny they found it to be.
I think laughter is one of the most
natural and important parts of any relationship. If you can’t laugh with each
other or even at each other, then I find the relationship to be boring.
Laughing uncontrollably in the way I have described above is one way that
people bond with each other and make memories. You could ask any member of my family
what the most memorable part of thanksgiving last year was and they would all
recall this exact situation and they would remember it in great detail just as
I do. I have found over the years that reminiscing is something that brings
people together—and usually you are recalling the times that made you laugh.
I believe that laughter is the most
powerful form of medicine. It relieves stress, brings you closer to others,
diffuses tense situations, and simply makes you happy.
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