Honors College Art & Science of Emotions Fall 2017 (1:20 p.m.) Sadness Journal | Page 19

is done, we have someone say grace and we then go around telling each other what we are thankful for.
These traditions are supposed to be joyful and allow people to be in “awe” for what you are thankful for.
With this being said , however, we must wake up early for the parade and every year we go through the “I
don’t want to get up” or “Let’s just not go this year.” Which this, for me, creates sadness because I love
viewing the parade and being with my family and when everyone who normally comes, doesn’t, it be-
comes disappointing. Additionally, when it comes for “your” turn to express what you are thankful for,
you may forget what you planned to say or someone may have already went above and beyond what you
were going to say which then can create embarrassment.
With all of these high expectations, we create sadness because expectations are not always met
and family members are not always a joy to be around. Sadness is an emotion usually connected with cer-
tain experiences of pain or loss which can therefore affect the holidays. Holidays can be sad not only be-
cause expectations are not met and people may feel failure, but it can also be linked to not having certain
family members at large gatherings because they passed away or just made poor life decisions. This creates
sadness because this certain family member may have made holidays fun. For example, my grandfather
“With all of these high
expectations, we
create sadness
because expectations
are not always met…”
used to be the highlight of my holidays, especially Christmas. He
would always decorate my grandma's house both in and outdoors,
and had “clap-on” Christmas tree lights which my brother and I
awed at. Christmas eve, he would leave carrots for Santa’s reindeer
and put reindeer prints and feces on the roof. He would also leave a
can of coke and cookies out for santa because “Santa drinks too much milk.” When Christmas came and my
brother and I visited, he would dress up as Santa and hand out the gifts from under the tree. He was always
the reason everyone looked forward to Christmas, however, when he passed away, everything changed.
This created sadness not only within me, but the whole family. After his death, it was almost as if family
19.