When the Holidays Took an Eternity to Come

It’s hard to believe how fast the month of December has gone by! I can’t believe how fast this entire year has gone! It seems like not long ago, I was taking walks in the warm summer evening. September was just getting started and I was laughing at how early people were decorating for Halloween.

Now, it is soon Christmas. The year is almost over. But December just started! Where did the time go!? I didn't quite understand as I was a kid when adults would tell me the older you get, the faster time will go.

Now, here I am wondering how it is Christmas already. It seems impossible. The adults were right. I understand now!

I remember a time when the year dragged on and Christmas seem to take an eternity to come.

When I was little, as soon as Thanksgiving was over, I eagerly began to count down the days until Christmas.

Each day from the end of November through the month of December until Christmas went by ridiculously slow. It was funny how fast the days flew by during summer vacation while waiting for Christmas was a different story!

One time, in second grade, we made links out of red and green construction paper of which we taped together to make a chain of 25 links. Each day, you took a link off to count down the days until Christmas. The concept was very much like that of an advent calendar.

I made sure to tear off one link each day. Today, as an adult, if I did this activity, I’d likely forget to take off a link then I’d just lose track. When I was a kid, I never forgot.

At first, the link never seemed to grow any shorter just like the month of December never seemed to go by any faster.

When I was a kid, Christmas shopping was much more enjoyable as I helped my family pick out gifts for each other. Surely, the last-minute holiday rush was always there, but as a kid who was wrapped up in the belief of Christmas taking an eternity, I didn't notice it.

Now, while I truly do enjoy it, holiday shopping is far less enjoyable as an adult. It's a mad rush to find that "perfect gift" as we race against time before Christmas.

One year, I remember I was so excited for Christmas morning that I had suddenly woken sometime near the middle of the night, jumped out of bed and ran downstairs. I didn’t bother to look at the clock that sat on the dresser. I didn’t seem to notice that it was still dark. Maybe I did but I didn’t care. In my sheer excitement, I swore I had slept the whole night and it was now Christmas morning.

I had gotten halfway down the steps when I was stopped by an adult asking what I was doing up and to go back to bed.

Somehow through my excitement, I managed to sleep the whole night this time. At long last, after the ridiculously slow wait until Christmas, I could finally open the gifts I received. Some have a tradition of opening a few gifts up on Christmas Eve. Even just one. I wasn't one of those lucky few. I had to wait until Christmas morning to open my gifts.

This Christmas, may we all remember to slow down, to reflect on what it was like as a kid, when the holidays felt magical. Furthermore, may we remember the true meaning of the holidays!

Oh! Those days when the holidays took an eternity to come!

Happy Holidays, everyone!