There’s something new about the atmosphere as I walk through the neighborhood. It wasn’t like this yesterday. How could there be such mesmerizing change in just about a day? The way the trees sway from left to right, it’s as though there’s music they’re dancing to. The way the houses seem more vibrant on the inside and out. Perhaps, every family hung up new lights? The way the stars shimmer brighter in the dark night sky. People having such a big smile on their faces it looks like they've just won in life. Their smiles are so genuine, not a single hint of forced smiles. A different genre in music being played all around town. It feels like I'm living in a musical!
Christmas music everywhere and families singing along as they put up their Christmas tree and decorate their houses. How I love Christmas! The smell of hot chocolate in the air, the sound of Christmas carol, the warm fuzzy sweaters, the snow. Everything is just a dream! One of my favorite things about this season is that my family and I get to do our Christmas traditions! We have three traditions. Traditions that are taken very seriously and we never miss a year. Without these traditions, Christmas would not feel the same in our household!
But there was this one Christmas where we skipped them. At first I thought it would be awful. No traditions mean no snowboarding, no snowman making contest and no christmas movie marathon! Young Allison had waited for these traditions all year and she was devastated when she found out she’d be skipping them. Instead of doing those fun and exciting activities, my family and I spent our Christmas break with our distant relatives. I never really knew them as a kid so I wasn't very thrilled when I found out.
It was the morning of the 20th of December. I ran down to the kitchen, greeted by the smell of my mom’s hot chocolate. Normally, we would start doing our traditions every 20th of December so I was very much excited for that day. I got my favorite sweater and my lucky socks on. I thought everything was going to be perfect and that was till my brother stole my hot chocolate and mom broke the news to us. “We are skipping our family traditions this year.” she said. I was taken aback. We never skipped a year, never! She told us what we were going to do instead and I was upset.
We stayed in our relatives’ barn. A very big one. It wasn’t like those stinky old barns. This barn was very new, filled with twinkling lights and it was warm and cozy. Fire crackled by the fireplace while Christmas songs were playing in the background.
I met my relatives and we started playing in the snow. We threw snowballs at each other. It was like a war broke loose, everyone firing snowballs at each other. It was insane! The next day, we went Christmas caroling. I never was fond of christmas caroling myself, i was scared and shy but my cousins changed that. I loved caroling with them! The day after that, we wrapped gifts! They even taught me how to wrap presents properly!
Finally, for the last day. We spent the entire day reading and watching Christmas stories. Then in the evening, we had a feast! The table was filled with delicious meals! They were so good, I ate like I've never eaten before! We went to a gift opening afterwards. Everyone opened their gifts and we took photos together as a family! After all that, we went outside to watch the stars. I looked at everyone with awe and gratitude.
I’m so glad we didn’t do our family traditions this year. I learned that it doesn’t matter what we do for Christmas, it doesn’t matter if we don’t follow through with our traditions, what matters is who we’re going to do them with. Christmas isn’t all about those activities, it’s all about the people, the gratitude, spreading love around us. Ever since then, I stopped caring about doing our traditions, I started caring about the people i was going to spend my christmas with, and you should too. Merry Christmas!
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