Holiday #6: No Christmas?

It seems awkward to think of a family who doesn't celebrate Christmas. On the other hand, it shouldn't be awkward since my family don't celebrate other holidays like Easter or July 4th so in a way, I have no right to call anyone who doesn't celebrate Christmas awkward. Either way, my family often celebrates Christmas (to a certain extent).  However, due to multiple members' catching the flu, my family had to set out on Christmas this year. No Christmas tree. No decorations. No family dinner. Everyone is too sick to get out of bed. Still, how can one forget Christmas if there are reminders everywhere? Stuck indoors with cough medicine beside, I imagine what I will be missing this Christmas.

As a child, I always look forward to Christmas. There was the long winter break, the festive decorations, the festive music, and, last but not least, the presents. When I was a kid, Christmas time was the only time when I can get anything I want (besides birthdays but that always occurs on either STAR testing days or AP testing days :( ). My parents would spoil me, allowing me to get any one gift within budget. Usually the gifts were toys but soon it transformed into video games (because toys are a hassle to clean up). Those were fun times. As a grew older, Christmas time reminds me more of family gatherings - the awful times when one meets with other relatives and they ask constant questions regarding school grades, boyfriends, and (just recently) employment. Who doesn't love family gatherings? I was not looking forward to such gatherings this year. However, now that I [miraculously] avoided it, I tend to miss it. Without the decorations, music, and events, Christmas end up like... any other boring day.

Christmas is a special event whether it is a day for religious people to celebrate their religion or a time for people to spoil themselves with not rational excuse. It is a holiday to cheer people up. And if one does not celebrate Christmas for reasons mentioned above, at least it is a time for breaking boring daily routines, exhilarating one's life [momentarily], and counting one's earnings for the year. A wonderful holiday even for Mr. Scrooge.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year everybody!