It’s no secret that experiencing Christmas in your college years is much different than the holidays you spent as a child. Despite the obvious fact of not having to worry about an overweight man breaking into your home, maturing means that you’ve sadly reached the point in your life where Christmas isn’t as mysteriously magical as it once was.
The year I received a pair of wool socks for Christmas forever changed my understanding of the holidays. It was not their fault—they were as nice a pair of wool socks as a pair of wool socks could possibly be. In fact, they were the exact striped pair I had requested. But it was the reality that I had asked for something practical, something ordinary and necessary, that made me realize that Christmas would never be the same.
Everyone remembers the year they stopped believing in the Big Guy. Although I may have believed in Santa for a few questionable years too long, I like to think that this wasn’t (strictly) because I was uncool. I clung to my belief because I thought it was Santa who made Christmas magical.
There was something special about optimistically circling every toy you wanted in the Sears Christmas Catalog. There was no anticipation quite like laying awake in bed for hours hoping to hear Santa on the roof, or excitedly waking up your siblings in the wee hours of Christmas morning. There was an overwhelming feeling of joy sneaking down the stairs to find a stack of gifts with your name on them and an awe-inspired wonder of just how Santa got it right every year.
After the ’tween years, you sleep in a little longer on Christmas morning. There’s no rush to play with all of your new stuff and no reason to check the cookie plate that is no longer there. As you get older, Christmas isn’t the same as it once was. A little bit of the magic disappears. Yet, perhaps it begins to dawn on you that it’s not about those wool socks, after all. Christmas was never meant to be about Santa Claus or unwrapping presents under the tree.
Through the years my love for Christmas hasn’t lessened, rather, it has morphed into a greater knowing. My focus has shifted from joyfully anticipating the brightly wrapped presents under the tree to joyfully appreciating intangible gifts, the people and the love that generously surround me.
There’s something special about coming home from college for the first time in months. There’s no anticipation quite like seeing your friends and family after so much time apart. And there remains a heartwarming magic in every holiday I get to spend with the ones I love.
