Growing up Italian has made life wonderful. Having a big, supportive family who embraces their culture in everything they do has made me appreciate where I come from. We celebrate our background through celebrations, traditions, food, and our closeness with one another.

Celebrations

We're really good at partying. Not the kind of partying where you crowd around people you barely know holding red solo cups, but the kind of partying where you crowd around Uncle John's homemade salami with your favorite cousins.

Whether my cousin just graduated, or it's my birthday, I can always count on a pretty long guest list. All of these people are my relatives, who each bring something different to the table -- I'll go into more detail in the food section -- and are happy to be partaking in celebrating whoever's special day it is. Being able to look around a table of about 20 people and know each of them are there to wish you the best is a really great feeling.

Traditions

One of my favorite traditions is Sunday dinner. Although it is difficult to gather every single week, it's always a blast when we do. We all catch up with each other (which isn't difficult, because we see/stalk one another very often) and frequently reminisce on old times.

Another tradition we have is our holiday gatherings. The best example of this is Christmas Eve: the feast of the seven fishes. This is an Italian tradition that reflects the abstinence from red meat on Christmas Eve, which is technically a fasting day. It's a wonderful meal with all kinds of seafood prepared all different ways, and I look forward to it every year.

Food

As you have probably noticed from the traditions and celebrations paragraphs above, a lot of the time we spend together revolves around food. Food has a lot to do with the rich culture I've experienced growing up Italian. Planting my little tomato garden when I was 7 years old, inspired by my grandparents' dedication to making everything themselves and using the freshest ingredients, was my way of following in their footsteps.

When traveling to Italy with my peers on a school trip, many of them were pleasantly shocked to receive a pasta dish before eating the main course. For me, growing up Italian, this is called Sunday, or Thanksgiving, or Christmas, or any other family meal.

But, hey, we do change things up once in a while. For my cousin's graduation, my uncle stirred the pasta in a flaming cheese wheel. Yes, we do have traditions, but sometimes shaking it up with a fiery wheel of Parmesan to celebrate your cousin's hard work is necessary.

Closeness

When there is so much to celebrate, so many traditions to follow, and so much good food to eat while growing up Italian, you become closer each day. My big family has become a unit that supports, loves, and defends one another passionately. Sometimes things can get loud, and sometimes we can disagree. But, at the end of the day, we have each other's backs for life.

Growing up Italian is the best thing that ever could've happened to me, and I wouldn't want it any other way.