The suitcase is sitting in the middle of your room, open for all to see, as it stares you down while you contemplate what you should put in it. How many shirts? Pants? Do you want these boots? Or how maybe those boots? Your eyes are darting all over the room, wondering what exactly you’ll need, while keeping in mind what you’ll actually have room for. Eventually the bag is packed, whether this is the night before you leave or only 5 mins prior to departure, it doesn’t matter; it’s packed.

Typically you pack suitcases and bags when you’re going on vacation or a trip of some sort, but college introduces a concept that baffled me the very first time I had experienced it: you have to pack to go home. When you leave school on break, heading home to see your family, you have to pack clothes, a toothbrush, shoes, and the essentials you’ll need while you’re home. It dawns on you that everything you use is here, at school, your home away from home, and somehow, you have to go back home without the things that make you feel at home. You’ve worked so hard, making your dorm room feel like home, but now, how is it going to feel to be in your empty childhood bedroom at home?

But what you’ll realize is that home can be anywhere. There’s a difference between a house being the place you grew up in and a house being a home. For me, and I’m sure for most college students, home isn’t made up by the stuff we have in our rooms, but rather the people that are in the house with you. So, rather than filling my suitcase with every pair of shoes that I own and over a dozen sweaters, it’ll be filled with the gifts I’ll be bringing back for the people I’ve missed so much. Simple gifts, to show them my love and appreciation, but gifts nonetheless. The holidays aren’t about you or your needs, but instead the people around you, family or strangers, that could use your help and love.

You don’t know what you’ve missed until you realize that it’s just around the corner. College has made me feel a lot older, in some aspects of life, but being home makes me feel like a little kid again, especially when both of my older brothers are there. It’s never been the materialistic things that made the holidays special, but the people who have been there to spend them with. Some may call me young at heart, and some may say I have a case of Peter Pan syndrome, but I’ve realized recently that I don’t want to grow up. I like where I am right now. I enjoy having the freedom college offers you; to act as childish as you want, whenever you want. Life is simple, and how you feel about it comes down to the people you choose to share it with.

So as you pack your suitcase to go home, remember this: don’t worry too much about cramming everything in to the point where you’ll have to sit on it and have your roommate zip it up for you. Remember that it’s not a fashion show; you don’t need a different outfit for every day. Remember that since you’re now a college student, you should know how to do your own laundry, but if you don’t, your Mom probably will. She’s probably missed you just as much as you’ve missed her, if not more (more than likely, A LOT more), so I’m sure she won’t mind doing your laundry. Especially if you chose to come home and spend time with her and the rest of your family during the holiday break rather than spending it with your new college buddies.