What the Holiday Season Has Meant to Me for 25 Years

For me, the holiday season means the end of another year that seems to have gone by so fast, and it is a time when I wish to celebrate with my family as the promise of prosperity in the new year arises. I always look forward to the day when we go to decorate the Christmas tree. My father sets the tree up while my mother and I decorate it with glass ornaments. There is plenty of fun to be had with spreading the different colored ornaments around, and sometimes, they fall to the ground and break. However, we always have a good time decorating the tree and the rest of the house, especially when we put on Christmas music to put us in a festive mood. Perhaps it is a good thing that many radio stations tend to play holiday music around the clock at that time of year.

Sometimes, we bake delicious treats such as thumbprint cookies and chocolate fudge, and drink egg nog, which Ii admit tends to give me a sugar rush. We also look forward to shopping, and I manage to survive the holiday shopping chaos long enough to get the gifts that I think my parents will enjoy. Equally fun for us is wrapping presents, and we tend to put names of characters from movies, TV shows, etc. on the gift tags as if the presents were from them instead of us. Rest assured, it is all in good, humorous fun.

For Christmas Eve/Day meals, we either have ham smothered in pineapple and cherry juice, or lasagna with a variety of cheeses such as American, Swiss, and mozzarella. Also on Christmas Eve, we may be permitted to open some of our gifts, saving the biggest presents for the next morning. While the gift giving and everything else is enjoyable, I never lose sight on what the entire holiday season truly means: being together and sharing the occasion with the ones you care about the most. If only everyone stopped to think about that very thought and shared it with someone they loved, then the magic of Christmas would never be tarnished. May everyone's holiday season always be full of love and happiness, and may the new year bring the promise of a brighter future for the entire world.