The lights, the pumpkin spice lattes, the candles, the singing – these are not the reasons I love winter break. The sole reason for which I count down the days to break is the promise of a few stress-free weeks in which I can forget about what I’m “supposed to do” and just lie down for a while. Unfortunately, everything about the so-called cheerful holiday season prevents me from doing this, defeating the purpose of my winter break altogether. Accordingly, I’m forced to believe that the holiday season is highly overrated.
Take for example, the stress of giving gifts. I know that as soon as I start buying presents, I start worrying and adding more and more people to my gift list so no one is forgotten and offended. The social politics of it all suck out the joy of gift-giving for me. What if their present if bigger than mine? What do I do if someone gets me a gift, and I don’t have one for them? It’s a time a confusion that doesn’t exactly inspire the warm fuzzies.
And how many times has your mom said that “she needs a vacation from the holidays” and that she is not celebrating Christmas next year? My mom has said it every year since the early 90s. With two little brothers that still believe in Santa, it’s no wonder the season wears our entire family out, so much so that the season of jolly and good cheer seems to be a prime time for family arguments. Maybe it’s because we college students have idealized the concept of home so much that we expect family harmony whenever we go back. But in my experience, I know that invariably my mom and I will end up disagreeing about my outfit and my brother will rant about having to cut his hair to appear “decent.” And let’s not forget about the probing questions about our college lives. I came home to relax, not for this!
And while we’re supposed to emerge from winter break de-stressed, light, and carefree from all the holiday splendor, I always end up quite literally weighed down by a whole host of useless gift knick knacks. As a kid (and sometimes even now) I always received Barbies for Christmas when all I really wanted was a baseball glove. And I always have to say a polite “Thanks” with a kiss. The result? About a dozen headless, naked Barbies stashed somewhere in my room.
Speaking about being weighed down, let’s not forget the all-important holiday staple: grease. The holidays almost force us to eat high calorie foods that we usually aren’t that crazy about. It is literally impossible to swallow a fresh carrot while everyone else is eating turkey, pork and seven kinds of pie. And these foods aren’t around for just one day either–leftovers can last until January, extending your holiday weight gain for a few more happy weeks.
The fact is that as we grow older, we have to confront more of those tedious holiday responsibilities instead of actually enjoying them like we could when we were little. Now instead of just eating the food, you have to help cook it, and deal with the love handles later. Now instead of just receiving gifts, we have to think about giving them too. In the end, my winter relaxation time is disrupted by the tedium of the holiday season. So this year, I’m getting an early start on resisting the holiday season (I say “early” because now the day after Halloween is the accepted start date of the consumer season) and wait it out until spring so that I can eat a salad again.