The holidays are often the time when people flood the shops, looking for the best deals and items for their loved ones that may or may not see the light of day in one year. It’s a time when money is spent and the level of gift wrapping one does reaches an almost insurmountable level. However, while many people think that these times are for the gifts and the physical manifestations of love, one often forgets that the holidays are meant for much more.

Yes, I understand what I’m saying is the basis for every Christmas movie that pixelates across the Freeform channel and that holiday manifestos are very much a trend of the modern day, but I truly wish to argue that the holidays are much more than just the wrappings that tend to explode all over the place.

The holidays are a time to recapture the aspects of ourselves that we often forget in the rushing of the day to day. The atmosphere of the celebrations, including the loved ones in which we spend them with, enraptures the mind, compelling it to stop, wonder, and appreciate the moment that never seems to cease. These festivities, with their multi-cultured bases and decorations, bring back the curiosity of childhood and the life of small aspects of happiness people let slip from their minds. It is this very ideal that I believe speaks to each person during the holidays, no matter their associations, and always calls them back to the time when life was as it should be – unimpeded by the unnecessary and surrounded by love.

So this season, when you are surrounded by the hustle and bustle, let it sink in that you are present (no pun intended) and that you are free to dream and wonder, not letting life pass you by