As I’ve gotten older, my priorities have changed on holidays. I focus on different things than I would before.
Christmas used to be my favorite holiday, but not for the right reasons. I would only care about the gifts, but that’s not the point of Christmas. It is to spend time with family and loved ones. I would try to get a sneak peek at presents, or I might be upset that I didn’t get something I wanted. I completely forgot the whole point. The presents aren’t what matter; it’s whom you open the presents with and the thought that they put into it, wondering what you might want and saving up money for an expensive gift that’s been wanted for a while. My parents invest a lot of thought into what presents I would like to make me happy, and I really appreciate the effort they put in for me.
I now want different gifts than I would before. I ask for things I need instead of things I want. Sometimes I don’t want anything and would rather get things for my family.
When we are little we don’t have to worry about the planning and all the time that goes into the holidays. I would only be concerned about the food or what family I was going to see. My mom would cook for hours just so that we could all eat a big dinner or prepare the place for when the guests arrive, like cleaning and rearranging things, so that there would be plenty of room for everyone.
When I was very young, our family would gather to eat and play games for Thanksgiving. As I grew older, we slowly stopped having those gatherings, and now we don’t really celebrate Thanksgiving at all. It’s disappointing because I missed out on some of the memories my older siblings were able to create.
I have now realized how much stress it can be to prepare for the holidays and how much thought they put into it to make sure everyone is happy and having a good time.
Holidays have more meaning than just the gifts we receive. They are about family and caring for each other. The gifts wouldn’t matter if we didn’t have the people around us to open them or if we didn’t have anyone to shop gifts for. People lose the meaning of the holidays, and it’s important to know what the point of them is.
