On Christmas Eve every year, the thing that my family waits on is my grandma’s baking. The taste of the food is a first time taste. Grandma takes the steaming plate out of the oven, and the smell of the year fills the air around my family. As I take the first bite in, my saliva melts the gooey chocolate inside, while still being able to crunch on the petite walnuts buried inside the core. The buttery taste combined with the small hint of cinnamon and it makes the biggest difference. The warmth from the banana bread in the oven fills the room from my grandma baking. Eating the chocolate chip banana bread is not about the flavor; it is a feeling. It is a feeling of nostalgia and comfort which makes up my family’s Christmas spirit.

The chocolate chip banana bread acts as its own. Every bite taken by a family member, the only conversing is the “mmm’s” from the rich chocolate taste. Christmas Eve would not be the same without it. The banana bread not only represents Christmas, but also my family. We gather around the table, smelling the chocolate chips as they melt into the banana bread and bond more than we do throughout the year. The anticipation of my grandma’s chocolate chip banana bread is greater than any anticipation of a Christmas gift, and each year when she is done baking, she says, “Now let the anticipation build for this exact moment next year”. Her bread represents the holiday season, and is the most memorable Christmas gift my family could ask for.