Imagine: you’re five years old and you’re creeping down the
stairs on Christmas morning. You look under the tree, there’s a brand new red bike! You begin jumping for joy and screaming for your parents and siblings to come see it! Now, imagine walking downstairs this Christmas, you’re 19 years old and you see a brand new red bike. While the gift is the same, the reaction is entirely different. This year, I’m picturing more of an awkward “Gee... thanks ‘Santa’ you REALLY shouldn’t have.”
As children we looked forward to Christmas for an entire year. It was a time of unadulterated joy and happiness. Now, when we think of Christmas it isn’t surrounded by the excitement and joy that it used to be. As we get older it becomes a time of familial obligations, spending too much money on gifts, and trying to sleep off a hangover from the semester.
When did we become disenchanted with the most wonderful time of the year? Is it when we found out that Santa and his elves weren’t exactly "real"? There seems to be a gap between childhood and parenthood where you’re not quite buying into the whole Santa conspiracy. As children, we blindly accept the fact that Santa is real. When we reach parenthood, we do our best to make the holiday wonderful for our children. We leave crumbs on the plate from the cookies left out for Santa, take ash and make tracks of Santa’s boots to and from the fireplace and stay up all night just to see the look on the kids face when they wake up and see that shiny red bike.
Somewhere along the way, we all came into the realization that our presents really came from mom and dad, and we lost the spark of excitement that lit up within us anytime anyone mentioned Christmas (even if it was just talking about going church on Christmas morning). Now, walking around campus, it seems that all anyone is worried about is how hard their finals will be and what their weekend plans are. It seems that Christmas break, and all its festivities, are on the back burner until it is actually upon us. Shouldn’t we be brimming with excitement at the prospect of being home and with our family and friends?
Although we’ve all come to terms with the fact that Santa isn’t real (if you haven’t I’m sorry and this is all a joke), I think we should all try and get that spark back. As we get older, the presents become about the actual presents, what we get, and not just the thought behind it. We try and sleep in instead of waking up at 5 am to see what’s under the tree. We forget about the real meaning of Christmas. It seems to me that as we get older, that is when Christmas should hold the most excitement for us.
This year, remember why you were so excited as a child on Christmas morning. It wasn’t because of the big red bike under the tree (although that was pretty dope); it was because of the magic! As a generation we have lost the magic of Christmas. As 20-somethings, the magic lies within the experiences, the time we get to spend with loved ones (Grandma and Grandpa I’m looking at you), seeing your younger cousins full of joy, and realizing how blessed we truly are.
(Enjoy my awkward family Christmas card circa 2006)
