Today is Friday, December 15. Christmas is just 10 days away.  In America, the shopping malls are crowded with shoppers buying presents for their friends and family members. People are also making plans to visit their relatives for Christmas.  My family always visited my grandparents in Edinburg, Texas, for the Christmas and New Year’s holidays.  In my essay today, I will tell you about spending the holidays with my relatives in Texas.
　 Edinburg is in the south of Texas.  The town is only 10 kilometers from Mexico, but it is about 950 kilometers, or thirteen hours, from my hometown, Baton Rouge.  My family drove there every year.  We took books and magazines to read, and card games to play during the long trip.  My mother drove most of the way there.
     Both sets of my grandparents lived in the town, not far from each other.  So, I was able to spend much time with all of them.  On Christmas Eve, we drove around the town and looked at the Christmas lights.  On Christmas Day, we exchanged presents at the two homes, and then we had breakfast.  After that, we went to church together.  Finally, my mother and grandmothers made a big Christmas dinner. 
    My family usually stayed in Edinburg for ten days.  While we were there, we had excellent Tex-Mex food, and we sometimes went shopping in Mexico.  We sometimes went to the beach, too, about an hour from Edinburg by car.  South Texas is usually warm, even in winter, and we could often wade in the sea.  Many years have passed since then, but I will always remember my happy holidays in south Texas with my grandparents.

<注>　shopping mall（商店街），shopper（買い物客），making＜make plans（計画を立てる），relative
（親類，親戚），grandparents（祖父母），Edinburg（エディンバーグ市），Texas（テキサス州），
spend（「金を」使う，「時間を」費やす），south（南），kilometer（キロメートル），Mexico（メキシコ）,
Baton Rouge（バトン・ルージュ市），magazine（雑誌），card game（トランプ），most of〜（〜の大部分），
set（一組），each other（お互いに），was＜be able to〜（〜できる），ｅve （前日,前夜），finally
(ついに,最後に),Tex-Mex(テキサス流メキシコ風味の),even(〜でさえ),wade（水中を歩く）