It’s that time of the year again.
The Florida air is getting cooler, my life is getting more difficult, and my love for the holidays is honestly nonexistent.
Sounds harsh, I know, but for the past three years, celebrating the holidays has been a routine, and not one that I technically enjoy. As I’ve gotten older, the holidays have come to only signal some time off, not the typical joy and warmth of being with the ones you love on Thanksgiving, nor the Christmas decorations and carols.
I can’t really pinpoint the year I stopped feeling the childish glee that comes with Thanksgiving or Christmas. I just know that by now, in my sophomore year of college, I’m looking forward to seeing a few friends and family members, but that’s about it.
Call me completely un-American, but the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade has either been slept through or gone completely ignored in favor of seconds. Call me a Grinch, but the Christmas movies I once adored now go unwatched (I still watch “A Christmas Story” though, that’s a classic).
Though holidays serve as prime family time, it’s not something that I can say excites me anymore. There’s only so much patience a person can have when people constantly ask about school, life goals, and plans for my academic future, and make comparisons to other family members. I love my family, I really do. Yet all I can think about when holidays comes around is all the people, all the noise, and all the clean-up. Its great catching up, but sometimes, having such a big family can be overwhelming, especially when I just want time to relax.
The holidays aren’t a horrible time, but they are a time that does stress me out. I feel like it’s an ambush of questions I don’t feel like hearing, and a feeling that I can’t relate to anymore. I’m not against the holidays, especially since there are aspects of them that I love due to family traditions, I’m just saying that for me, things just aren’t the same.
