How holidays happen

Cameron Madden
MSMU Class of 2028

(12/24) We find ourselves in the kitchen, with plates stacked up containing remnants of gravy, bits of corn, and cranberry sauce someone couldn’t stomach this time around. Alone sits the person who was insisted upon to clean up the dishes for this Thanksgiving dinner. Let’s just say I am the one alone with the dishes, probably falling asleep from the food intake and revelry coming from a family get-together. As the last of the dishes finally begin to wrap up and I head upstairs quietly with intent to fall fast asleep, I catch glimpses of a changing time. Autumn turning to winter of course, but also something in the mood of those around me; all sleeping with a sort of relaxed mood, excited for the days to come despite no real change. As I drift off to sleep, and the cold finally begins to come in full effect, I feel nothing but warmth. The holiday season is here; Christmas is on the horizon and there is now nobody in my ear to tell me to wait until after Thanksgiving!

In the slow beginning days of December, animals begin to hibernate, the color of tree bark begins to blend and form a wall of gray and the leaves have disappeared. It feels perhaps lifeless. It’s funny though, in the transition from November to December there is green prevalent all around us. I certainly notice it in my own home, as the first couple days of the month involve my mother busting out the boxes of Christmas decorum she has been mulling over since last December. While I usually would be busy drowning in schoolwork, I instead am sat with my siblings, helping and conversing with one another over whether the lights should go here or there, or if the newest decoration my mother had bought can fit on the dining room table.

I come home to a lot more pastries and sweets than usual, filling the house with either a fresh smell of chocolate-chip cookies, or of fresh bread bought from the local bakery. It usually will be gobbled up in the span of a day, and with the sufficient supplies of eggnog and other warm beverages, it was an inadvertent but expected outcome. It’s always been funny, when younger plugging in the decoration lights and watching them light up the rooms of the house was a huge deal. We would turn off the main lights and gaze upon yellow string lights in wreaths or long strings of fake foliage. Always a week or two into the month, we would finally go and pick out a tree. We would usually go to the local fire station and sit by barrels of fire, eating candy canes as either my mom or dad would pick out a tree. They would hand out some cheap, but filling hot chocolate, which paired well with the aromas of peppermint and evergreen, and the feel of the cold air. As the month went on and the house gradually filled with more decorations—and of course, louder Christmas music—the spot of the tree would finally be picked out and set up.

After days of waiting for the tree to settle, the big box of old ornaments would be brought out, and we would all take turns putting whatever we wanted on the tree. There were a few specific to each person, making it all the more special. Some music or a holiday movie was put on as we did this, and the family has fun and laughs all the way through the process.

Throughout this time, we had some pretty normal traditions: like Christmas lists and visits to Santa Claus at the mall, eating candy canes the whole way to really cement peppermint as the flavor of the season. In the few days leading up to Christmas, I would be conflicted on which parent I would spend the first half of Christmas Day due to their split, but regardless of the unease, the principles and experiences were the close to the same: love, laughter, joy and connection. We would spend Christmas Eve excited with what usually turned out to be a big dinner, as we tend to have larger dinners on the Eve rather than on Christmas Day. Afterwards, my siblings and I would usually spend the rest of the night eager for the presents but, also in appreciation and revelation of the peace and love surrounding us. Partially due to the youngest sibling’s wishes, we would all sleep in one room. Overtime though, it just became the standard, and we would all find a space to sleep in my brother and I’s room.

On Christmas Day, my family partakes in traditions that may be similar to those of other people in the world. We awake in the cold morning to take a picture of all of the children, myself included, waiting to be let loose on the unsuspecting and innocent Christmas tree. Once the photo is snapped, it is off to the races to get to those presents! Coming from a family that did not have too much money to spend, gifts were either a collection of smaller items of varying expense or one big item with many lesser ones. All of which were usually determined by what was specified on a Christmas list, yet all were loved and cherished. From that point on, the same thing would repeat at the other parent’s house and the rest of the day would be spent with bonding over candies, presents, and probably a Charlie Brown movie. As I said before, a big dinner would usually be held on the day before, but dinner on Christmas would always be like a smaller Thanksgiving in terms of food like ham and turkey, mashed potatoes and such.

The next few days usually are quiet; we all relax with our gifts and take appreciation of the Christmas feel up until New Year’s Eve. Aside from the occasional party filled with plenty of snack/food platters, the most memorable tradition we carry out on New Years is banging wooden spoons on pots and pans, being an annoying neighbor by enjoying life in the easiest way: showing the love you hold, for and with, those closest to you through making noise and exerting laughter in a moment of complete togetherness.