Christmas is my absolute favourite holiday.
The lights, the tree, the smells of cinnamon and peppermint, the local craft fairs, the warm drinks and cozy sweaters, and the excitement that builds up over the months. All of these things together make Christmas so special.
Oh, and Christmas music. I could blast Michael Buble's Christmas album all day, every day. I will say, Christmas music loses its charm after a while, but Buble FOREVER.
When we were younger, my siblings and I would wake up so early — sometimes like 4 or 5 in the morning — to go downstairs and look in our stockings. My parents (and Santa) must have had to work quickly because we were such eager beavers.
We would sit on the couches in our living room, giggling about what Santa gave us as the lights on the trees twinkled. We wouldn't turn the other lights on because we were trying to be sneaky. And, of course, I would read the letter Santa wrote in response to my own. He had messy cursive writing.
As the youngest, eventually, it became just me who would wake up early in the morning (I was just too excited to sleep!) My siblings would sleep in later and later and I was left alone at 6 in the morning. I was left being the only one who, at least outwardly, expressed Christmas Day excitement.
Things change as you get older, though. You get less and less excited and more stressed. In university, December is full of exams and final papers and colds caused by chronic stress. I have been sick almost every Christmas since grade 8.
I find that now after Christmas, there's almost a sadness that comes with it. Christmas lets me be a little kid again for a bit. My dad and I put up the Christmas lights together (and usually have a hoot at Canadian Tire), we pick out the tree together and my family gets together and decorates it, we go the craft fairs, and we drive around and look at lights.
And then when that's all done, when you wake up the next day and it's Boxing Day, the magic suddenly seems to have vanished. I'm a melancholic person, but post-Christmas melancholy hits different.
I love our Christmas traditions. I love the gathering of our families. I love watching It's a Wonderful Life on Christmas Eve and visiting the cemetery on Christmas Day to pay our respects to our loved ones (even if it's super cold out). It's never a sad thing, visiting the cemetery; it's actually quite cheerful because we know that they wouldn't want us to be sad for them. We talk about our memories and we laugh. We sometimes think other people look at us funnily because we're smiling and enjoying our time together in a place as gloomy as a cemetery.
And once it's all over, we go back to our lives. We go back to work or school and the stress that comes with that. I wish the Christmas spirit would live on all year. I guess it could, though. Spending time with family, giving to and caring for others, and looking at twinkling lights.
Who says Christmas has to last one day (or one month)? I am a Christmas-loving fiend and I don't care who knows it.
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