The Twelve Presentation

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Christmas

Kayla Thomas

19 November 2012

Ms. Harmon

English 10

Christmas

It was Christmas Day. "Kayla! Karess!", my grandmother yelled. "It’s time to open your gifts."

Knowing what day it was we got up immediately , rushing down the stairs full of joy. As soon as we got down the stairs we ran straight to the living room. There laid all of our gifts and presents. We began to open our gifts.

"There are so many gifts!", my sister exclaimed with excitement. We began to open our gifts. The very first thing I opened was a little heavy for me to pick up. I ripped the wrapping paper.

"Grandma, what is it?", I asked.

"Open it and see, i’m not telling you." She said with a smerk on her face.

I opened it and there it was, the pink piggy bank I had asked for. It was made of glass and was very shiny. So anxious I grabbed the next biggest thing I saw. It was so heavy I could barely lift it.

"Grandad! Can you help me pick this up please?" I yelled. He begins to walk over to help me.

He started to open it, then I took over. I used all my might to open it. When it was completely open my eyes were glisitening. Laying before me was a pile of new clothing.

"This is why it was so heavy grandad!", I said.

There were sweaters, long sleeve shirts, short sleeve shirts, dresses, and much much more! I turned around and behind me was a pair of black boots, brown Sperry’s, and some very sparkly flats.

By this time I had the biggest smile on my face. I was grinning from ear to ear. I just started trying on the clothes, putting on piece after piece.

In the midst of all of this I fell in love with a red dress. I slid one arm in after the other. Once I looked at myself in the mirror I could not take it off. After a while I began opening my other gifts. My sister and I had so many toys we could hand them out to everyone in the neighborhood.

After we finished opening gifts, grandmother, my sister, and I proceeded to making breakfast.

"Pass me the pancake mix!", I yelled.

I sat in the chair next to the microwave beating the mix together. We made pancakes, grits, eggs, bacon, waffles, and oatmel.

"Food is almost ready!" , grandmother announced.

I walked into the living room gathering everyone for breakfast.

"Oowee, the food smells good.", said mom. "Who cooked?"

"We did!" , I yelled.

The whole family included my mom, grandmother, eldest and youngest sister, grandfather, and my cousin. Everyone gathered around the dining room table. As we all bowed our heads, grandfather said grace.

" We thank you for this food that we are about to receive as nutrients for our body, bless those who do not have food to eat this day according to your divine will, in all these the we pray, AMEN."

"AMEN", said the family.

My grandmother cracked jokes as we all ate. Laughing so hard we could barely eat our food.

Now when everyone finished eating it was finally time to clean up. There were so many dishes it looked lilke a chefs kitchen. Luckily it was not my turn to do the dishes, but it was my sisters.

"Kayla can you help me with the dishes, pleeaasseee?" , said my sister.

I thought about it for awhile. I decided since it was Christmas I would be nice and help my big sister out.

"Yes, i'll be glad too.", I said.

I put on some music and began washing dishes to the beat. We would throw bubbles and suds on each other. In no time we were finished washing dishes. This ended our Christmas morning. I wonder what's in store for next year...

Will I Ever Enjoy Reading?

  Being told I was raised in the library I finally realized it was not true. I can remember as a toddler going to daycare on the daily basis. We would go through the same routine every day, before and after lunch we would learn three new words. After repeatedly going through this process I began reading complete sentences. I enjoyed learning to read as a child because every time I completed a sentence I would get a treat.
   As I got older I learned more words and began to read more. In my Sunday school class we would read the children’s version of the bible. There would be a lot of pictures and illustrations to help us understand what we were reading. This helped prepare me for grade school.
   In elementary we did AR reading. AR was accelerated reading. Every student had a goal and a certain amount of points to reach weekly. At this point I came to the realization that I did not like being forced to read. My teachers would get on to me because I did not want to read. I would always have to miss recess time to make up for reading time. This did not encourage me to want to read more.
   When I entered middle school I thought it was all over. Little did I know it was just beginning except now it was harder. This began my journey of reading chapter books. The first chapter book I read on my own was called Forever by Judy Blume. This book was just right for me. I could relate to it and it was a dramatic love story. In the midst of reading this book I became conscious of the fact that it was not that I did not like reading or being forced to read, but that I was reading the wrong genres. Therefore I was not engaged in my reading.
   After reading Forever I began searching for my next chapter book. The next chapter book I began reading was Do You Know the Monkey Man by Doris Butler. This was a great book. Reading these books made me began to enjoy reading once again. I would reach my goals every time in AR . Now since I know what genre I like to read, I read all the time.
   When I entered high school I began reading the Bluford high series. This series is classified as realistic fiction. I would read a new book every day. One of the book I read was so interesting that I felt like I was actually in the book. I was so engaged I began to feel as though I was playing the role of a victim. This book gave me the imagination that I thought I never had. My mom would have to tell me to stop reading so I could get other things accomplished.
   Reading became like second nature to me. I could find books instantly and just began reading and enter a whole other world. This is my story of how I learn to read and love it. What’s your story?

Justice

Lincoln created a tone of righteous indignation by expressing himself through his second Inaugural speeech. Lincoln did not like fighting and war. He blamed the South for the Civil War. According to the passage. Lincolned stated " Both parties deprecated war; but one of them would make war rather than let it perish." He felt like the Confederacy started the war in order to continue slavery. He also disliked the fact that we all live in the same country and worship the same God but want to harm one another. In the passage he said "Both read the same Bible, and pray to the same God; and each invokes his aid against the other. It may seem strange that any men should dare ask a just God's assistance in wringing their bread from the sweat of other men's faces." No one expected the war to be as bad as it was. It was more deathly and violent than they intended it to be. His anger towards the Confederacy explains why he had an attitude of righteous indignation, a feeling of unjustness.



I Am

I Am

I am young and beautiful
I wonder why so many changes have occured
I hear my little sister yapping in my ear
I see my future with him
I want to be in his arms
I am young and beautiful

I pretend to be my grandmother
 I feel blessed, loved, and STRONG
I touch the hands of royalty
I worry that i'm not good enough
I cry when all I have worked for is useless
I am STRONG

I understand life is too short so live it long
I say " I love you "
I dream of the heavens
I try to be the best at everything
I am young and beautiful