Multicolored lights spiral around, leading up to the indispensable star crowning the tree. Gifts from Santa are piled underneath, while hot chocolate and cookies await the family as they return from their adventure in the great, white outdoors. It is the perfect Christmas. Or maybe this only happens in movies.
Perhaps I lack the ideal Christmas experience. Having lived in sunny Saratoga most of my life, Christmas seems relatively mundane. I mostly notice it when I see the holiday lights in downtown or the occasional Christmas tree in a friend’s house.
Yet, I still feel like I have experienced most aspects of Christmas: I get my yearly presents, have Christmas parties with friends and have celebrated Christmas in Tahoe, where snow actually falls. It’s not exactly what I’ve seen on TV — I haven’t had one of those life-touching moments that came from the season of giving — but I think my experience covers the basics.
Christmas, however, is slowly losing its novelty for me. High school has drained it away. What used to be two distinct celebrations for Christmas and my birthday, a week before the anticipated holiday, began to merge into one.
The yearly trip to Tahoe with my family friends is slowly disappearing as more of us kids head off to college. My parents have futilely tried to take advantage of this freed time by asking me to study during our two weeks off.
People often say that finals after break was stressful because they spent all of break studying. I, on the other hand, don’t really care where finals are placed. To be honest, I never studied during break. Plus, in terms of the holiday season, both times detract from the value of Christmas; we’re either studying through the holidays or treating them as the long awaited time of relaxation. Christmas tradition somehow fades away.
Against this background of Christmas indifference, though, I find myself drawn back to the holiday through one tradition: Christmas music. I love holiday songs almost more than the food. As cheesy as it sounds, they’re really effective at spreading joy.
My friends and I scream pop song lyrics at each other on a normal basis, but it’s more tempting with Christmas songs. Music is the best part of the holidays. When they play songs like “Jingle Bell Rock” on the radio, I get really excited; it brings out my inner kid (although that side of me may already be apparent on a regular basis).
It’s essential to my Christmas tradition: driving to Tahoe, blasting holiday music while my older brother judges me — he is not a fan of my favorite songs (or perhaps it’s my singing). The music brings the joy that is indispensable to the celebrations; it sets the mood.
I suppose I missed out on experiencing the stereotypical “true Christmas” during my childhood, but I was able to receive snapshots of the momentous occasion. As the late Andy Williams would have sung,
it’s the most wonderful time of the year.
