Christmas Time Was Here

I love Christmas. Pretty lights, crowded malls, delicious baking, thoughtful gifts, gorgeous cards, surplus chocolate… What’s not to love?

Yet at the beginning of December I faced Christmas with less excitement then I would have expected from myself. Looking back at last year, this may be somewhat understandable. Perhaps I just didn’t want to be disappointed, if, instead of feeling the magic, I just felt more stress to keep everyone happy. Kind of silly isn’t it?

December days keep coming and going, and with them much Christmas spirit. There were gifts to plan, concerts to attend, and carols to sing. The days became busier and busier until the last week of school finally arrived and I felt the longing for winter break as students and teachers alike grasped to make it through the final couple of days.

School finally ended and the activities continued. My friends (all the frozen tic tacs-ers) and I had our picture taken with Santa, my family went on our traditional trip to the Old Spaghetti Factory then the Stanley Park Christmas Train. Finally it was Christmas eve and I was left to figure out how December went by so fast… so much had been packed into one short month.

Christmas came. No snow but lots of rain (not that that stopped my family from going to the park to run/walk the dogs first thing in the morning). We opened gifts (always exciting… no matter how a)old you get or b)how much you believe Christmas is not about the gifts) and spent the afternoon cooking and simply hanging out as family.

It got me thinking… Christmas is actually a rather odd day. For all time spent preparing for it, you would think it would be really… grand I guess. In reality it’s just a day- quiet, relaxing, and full of good food. What makes it different from most days of the year is that everyone stops their normal activities and goes home to spend the day with family. No one attempts work or chores, there is actually time to do the things together. Yesterday actually felt kind of empty in a way, I did practically nothing for some time with no guilt attached. Also, people make much more of an effort to be tolerant of each other (for example, I was allowed to do not only my sister’s hair, but my brother’s hair as well).

The moral of my story is the same moral as many cheesy Christmas books and movies today. Christmas is not about the pretty lights, crowded malls, delicious baking, thoughtful gifts, gorgeous cards, or even the surplus chocolate. It’s about remembering what’s really important to you and spending time with loved ones. It’s a time to recognize the wonders of light and hope within our world that goes on even when people are too busy to see it. Cheesy perhaps, but also wondrous

So today is the 26th of December but I’ll say it anyways: Merry Christmas!