Waking up with bright eyes and an anticipatory smile, little feet hit the floor and it’s off to the races. “Mom, Dad, get up, get up! Brady, Mandy get up!” Every year, after another 365 days go by and a whole month of being on your best behavior for The Big Man’s coveted little helpers, it’s finally here! Christmas Morning! The little boy can’t wait! Did Santa eat the cookies Mom helped me make? What about the carrots for Rudolph? Did I get the new game I wanted? I just can’t wait, he thinks to himself. From the excitement of not knowing, to the snow on the ground and a few weeks off of school, it’s truly the best time of the year! As he rushes downstairs, bounding over piles of laundry and dodging dog toys while skipping steps, the most magnificent sight in the world hits him. A new bike, bright and shiny under the lit-up tree!
“Wow!” Santa really knows how to work his magic!
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It’d be great, wouldn’t it? To still possess that child-like wonder of seeing the world through rose-tinted glasses? To want new toys for Christmas instead of a raise or straight As on all of your before-break exams; what I want for Christmas is the magic back. I want the snow to be blindingly white instead of mushy and grey, and houses covered with lights to be cute instead of tacky. I want to be happy on Christmas morning not full of dread about what I got and what others will think of what I gifted them.
The mid-break sadness that hits every year is inevitable for many. It’s an accumulation of many things, I believe. The realization that every year goes by faster and you’re closer to the unknown, the seasonal depression that’s very common in places like Ohio during this time of year; it all builds. Unfortunately the “happ-happiest time of the year” isn’t all that it’s cracked up to be.
As we get older and the elves stop hiding, the bells quit jingling and we get too big to sit on Santa’s lap, the entire feeling of Christmas slowly passes away. It’s heartbreaking when you go from waking up on the best days of your lives to not even realizing Christmas is in 6 days because you’re too preoccupied with seemingly more important things. Christmas becomes just another day as we get older. Your sibling has a basketball game, you have piano lessons, and there’s a take-home test; Christmas break might as well be a 3-day weekend with a few gifts thrown in there so we don’t forget to be grateful Jesus was born (which seems rather contradictory anyways).
The holiday season used to be what I looked forward to all year long and now it goes by before I can even catch up on the sleep school forced me to miss out on.
