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Christmas is about people, not things

The holiday season brings joy, gifts and a sense of belonging.

TAYLOR SNELL

Work Experience

The holiday season brings joy, gifts and a sense of belonging. With all the positives, come the negatives including stress, greed and the thought of selfishness.

So many people in today’s society have lost the spirit of the holiday season and have ended up recreating Christmas into a very materialistic and money hungry holiday.

I will express my thoughts and stories on the meaning of Christmas and what can come from it if celebrated and respected correctly.

My mother has always been a caring person, No matter what your background in life was my mom never judged; instead she went up to anyone with open arms and understanding. My childhood was filled with a lot of love and wisdom thanks to her. I remember thinking that she knew everything, almost like she held the key to the universe.

Christmas was a big thing at my house because of my mother's cultural background, and all the creativity and love she did a good job of sharing. Decorations swallowed the empty wall space and looking at our tree would almost burn your eyes with the rows of colourful and flashing lights. I loved it. The decorations would stay up well into the middle of January to celebrate Ukrainian Christmas.

My mother and father would never get me and my sisters anything but extraordinary gifts. By that I don't mean the most expensive or most time consuming to find, we didn't care about that, or at least I didn't.

I enjoyed just opening up my gifts on Christmas morning and seeing those gifts that reflected the time my parents spent getting to know me and the things I'm interested in. I do recall one gift that shone above the rest. It was a book about archaeology, something that I liked when I was young and still do.

Excited little 10-year-old me started to tear up I was so happy. The huge impact the holidays left on me as a young girl will forever be a part of my heart. Even now that I'm older and many things have changed I still fancy Christmas, even though my life is not at all the same.

Living with my younger brother is astonishing. It is fascinating to see him on the morning of Christmas. He is just a big ball of energy, waiting to rip up the wrapping paper that his mother slaved over to achieve perfection, so ready to see what is there for him underneath it all. He very much reminds me of myself.  It’s funny. His curiosity, purity and unique ways of doing everything are almost identical to me as a child. It makes me happy to know that I will get to be a part off him growing up, I get to teach him things and give him ideas, I get to help shape him with my own experiences of the holiday season.

Over the years people have gotten lost in the material world, especially when this time of year rolls around. The true meaning and general idea of Christmas is for many families forgotten. Perhaps these people no longer feel the need to just be happy with what they have, and instead accumulate all these items that most likely, not even a month later are just dust collectors. It angers me.

To me Christmas is about family, getting together and giving love, not giving unnecessary amounts of junk. Be thankful and embrace what you already have. This time of year is not meant to be stressful or is not to make you be close to becoming bankrupt. We all just need to take a breath, step away from the things that are not necessities and enjoy each other’s company. Christmas is about people not things.