Scrolling through social media, I often come across nostalgic videos of Christmas in the 2000s and 2010s, where the shaky camera and grainy video quality shows kids unwrapping presents and families decorating Christmas trees together. Seeing these depictions of the past, I can’t help but think that Christmas was better when I was a child. Throughout my years of growing up, the magic of the holiday seems to have faded while I’ve been in high school.
Before the past four years, Christmas was two weeks of pure excitement. My family had a tradition of traveling to Lake Tahoe with family friends and renting an Airbnb to spend the week skiing and sledding. During those two weeks, my small amount of elementary school and middle school homework sat untouched in my backpack, and I focused on enjoying food and having fun with my family.
I remember the cozy feeling of waking up on Christmas morning in a warm house, hearing distant voices from downstairs of the parents laughing and the smell of seared bacon and buttery waffles. This combination of sensations defined the fuzzy magic of Christmas for me.
Life was simple during Christmas break — we just had fun. Sometimes, we strolled around Incline Village or South Lake Tahoe, exploring local shops and dining places throughout the day. The younger children in our group found random piles of snow and threw snowballs at each other, which I often joined in on. My parents even lifted my usual screen time limit, so I gained the temporary privilege of playing as many video games as I wanted with my friends.
Everything about Christmas back then was special, whether it was the activities or the atmosphere. Recently, however, Christmas has lost some of its spirit. Some of this is natural as children grow up, but a majority of the loss is also brought from outside sources — such as summer program applications.
For the past three years since I’ve been in high school, I spent my winter breaks working on summer program applications at home. The pressure of writing countless essays made it nearly impossible to enjoy the holiday season at all. Instead of relaxing and having fun, my mind was consumed with the looming necessity of boosting my resume for college by getting accepted into summer programs.
Of course, I could have written my application essays while I was on vacation. But there is no way I would have properly enjoyed the vacation — writing essays in the hotel room while my family went out didn’t sound like fun. That meant, unfortunately, I had to stay trapped at home with my applications.
Although the process of applying for such programs took away the time to relax during break, I was still able to spend time with family through Christmas. The festive spirit of Christmas diminished, but I believe it was worth the development in intellect and experience for applying to programs, which I will also have to do in the future.
As I stay at home for my last winter break in high school — this time writing college applications — I will reminisce about my childhood travels to a magical winter wonderland.
The spirit of Christmas is no longer as magical as it was in my childhood. Of course, my view is heavily influenced by summer programs, so other students might be different and believe Christmas is the same as it always was. For them, I am happy that they are able to enjoy Christmas as a full holiday. But who knows? Maybe it’ll take a turn for the better after my dreadful college applications — I could sure use a two-week break right now.
