One Man’s Trash Is Another Man’s Treasure

Christmas has always been my favorite holiday. It is not necessarily the presents, the decorations, the holiday songs, or the lights that make this holiday the most glorious holiday ever. Rather, it is my family’s traditions that make me love this day more than the rest. While many families center their lifestyle around traditions and enriching values of their culture, the notion of incorporating tradition into our daily lives has always been of a lesser importance. For my family, Christmas is the sole time of year to express tradition; it brings us together and makes us who we are. Among the several holiday traditions that we keep alive, my grandma Jo’s homemade squid pasta is the most important and enduring aspect of our family’s history. She started this tradition when she was a teenage girl struggling to make a living on her own. Squid had been a delicacy for my grandma at the time; it was the source of her family’s survival for many years of incessant struggle. She didn’t realize it then, but squid would give my family a genuine understanding of gratitude and leave a lasting impact on the culture of my family.
My grandma Jo was about seven years old when she and her parents migrated to America from Naples, a city in Southern Italy. In 1916, a year after my grandma was born, the overpopulated and economically undeveloped city of Naples left its citizens distraught amidst the endless, financial difficulties and the hopeless struggles for a better life. Masses of people suffered from destitute lifestyles and had to fight for their survival with little to no benefits. As taxes rose ceaselessly and resources became even scarcer, my grandma and her parents were unable to maintain a livelihood in Naples. They sought refuge in America with hopes of escaping the impossible challenges that they faced in their homeland. That year, when my grandma was just a little girl, she boarded a ship with her parents and sailed to America in search of any opportunity for a better