I vividly remember the feelings I had during Christmas when I was younger; the joy, excitement and love. My parents worked so hard to create a magical Christmas for my sister and I; we had an insane amount of traditions. We went to multiple parades and spent a whole day with extended family dedicated to finding the perfect tree, even if it meant driving for hours and visiting multiple tree farms. After the tree farms, we would spend the weekend decorating our trees spread across the three houses. My family is quite large, so we had four separate Christmas dinners. As chaotic as it was, each one was special for different reasons, and they were all so magical. One of my favourite traditions took place on Christmas Eve: after dinner, we would rush out to my great aunt’s house to wait for a special Santa visit where everyone would get a Christmas gift from him. While we were waiting, my oldest cousin would read The Night Before Christmas and we would sing carols. I will be forever grateful for these memories because like much else, as I grew, everything changed.Â
Christmas began to feel more like a task than something I am lucky enough to experience in the way I do. The older I got, the more I understood the effort and time each of these traditions took. The more we did them, the more the magic faded, and things changed. Running around becomes tiring, the parades are cold and Santa no longer brings you a gift. I learned the secrets and tricks which made Christmas a list of things that need to be checked off. When I went away to university, I stopped attending all these traditions: no parade, no tree and no decorating. During the COVID outbreak, dinners got cancelled, split up and more complicated than ever. When this first happened, a part of me felt grateful there was no more pressure to be everywhere, until I realized how much I had just missed it.Â
This year I have decided to do everything I can to make Christmas magical again and reignite my love for it. Although there are some things I will still miss due to the distance between me and my hometown, I am trying to continue my traditions here. For the first time, my roommate and I will be decorating our house for Christmas. We have a tree we will be decorating with all the silly ornaments we can find, along with some homemade ones, which we can keep for memories when we are unfortunately no longer living together. We will also be adding some other Christmas touches around the house to get in the spirit. I will also start doing some holiday baking, such as sugar cookies, making a gingerbread house as well as some other family recipes that make it feel like Christmas. Hopefully, I will be hosting a small Christmas get-together in order to feel like there is an official start to my Christmas season. I will also be attending some of the winter and holiday events around the Waterloo area such as the festival of lights, the sip and shop at St. Jacobs and any other fun events nearby!Â
As everyone knows, December is a very busy time of the year for students. As the term wraps up, there are so many deadlines and exams it can quickly become stressful and overwhelming. Although I will try to be motivated and get all that needs done before the last minute, I will also be allowing myself breaks to do all the previously mentioned activities and not feel guilty for it. Even though Christmas still won’t be the same as it was when I lived at home, I am trying to learn to love it in a different way. I will be the magic of Christmas for my cousins’ children, make my house a Christmas wonderland and possibly beg for my parents to wait to decorate until I am home to help. Hopefully the holiday joy will be felt this year, and even if it is different from the past, I will appreciate it.Â