H is for Holidays

Sooo...it's almost Christmas. How do you feel about it? You might be excited (or sad, for that matter) for any number of reasons: family, friends, good food, drinks, social events, presents, Santa Claus....personally, it's Santa that does it for me. :-P

I love seeing the expressions of joy on little kids faces (and big kids too) as the season unfolds. Like most children, Christmas used to be my favourite time of year. The minute the malls and stores would put up their Christmas decorations and start piping festive tunes through the speakers, my body would undergo a fantastic change. My usually negative feelings about the annoyance of snow would be taken over by thoughts of cold, crisp holiday nights spent with friends and family. Christmas wasn't just a one or two day celebration, but a wonderful month long SEASON.

Perhaps the single most disappointing moment of the year was midnight on Christmas Day's night, when, without fail, every single radio station suddenly reverted back to Top 40 hits and 'regularly scheduled programming.' It never failed to produce a feeling of deep sorrow in my soul at the 'end' of my favourite time of year.

Although I still find that moment particularly depressing in my adult life (Am I an adult now? Wow.), Christmas is no longer the lengthy 'season' of years past. Christmas has become something much different, and unfortunately, something much less enjoyable. Don't get me wrong. I love the holidays for a number of reasons. I have the opportunity to spend time with many of my family members that I usually only see once or twice a year (if that). I get to see my wonderful parents and brother for at least a few days each. There is usually at least one, if not a number of parties which allow me to reconnect with friends that I miss dearly all year long.

But there are a number of things that I could do without. Traveling close to 4000 kilometres in 14 days. Christmas shopping on the two days before Christmas because they are the only two days that I have once school lets out for the holidays. Christmas shopping, period! I won't start on the absurdities of Christmas consumer culture. Buying and Getting things I or others don't need for the sake of buying a present. It's a bizarre thing, where a society can expend so much of it's effort on the material and commercial aspects of the Christmas holidays when there are so many who are suffering elsewhere. I'd much rather forgo the Christmas 'presents' and simply spend time with those that I love. I'd love to see a 'buy-nothing Christmas.'

And last, but most certainly not least...attempting to see everyone I've ever known in both Thunder Bay and Toronto during my approximately seven-day-long stay in each city.
Christmas often ends up being a whirlwind experience where I return to my home on the reserve physically exhausted, emotionally drained, and broke.

On the brighter side, I usually do have a few nice things to show for it.

Basically, the point is not that I have come to dislike Christmas as I've gotten older...it's just that as I've gotten older, the joy that I find in this once-magnificent holiday seems to be confined to a shorter and shorter time span. And I yearn for the days when life was simpler, and I was able to find the Christmas spirit throughout the entire month, as opposed to a mere week.