I remember being 6 years old, trying to get Christmas decorations up before thanksgiving even started, waiting at the tv watching ABC Family months before 25 days of christmas, starting my Christmas list to Santa and my parents months in advance. As a child, I would fantasize about Christmas. I would scheme up ways to catch Santa in the act. On Christmas Eve, I would be restless and wouldn't know what to do with myself because all I had wanted to do was open my presents with my family and eat Christmas cookies, and on Christmas day, there was no time to waste. I was up before the birds, eyes wide open in bed, waiting for the rest of the family to wake up, only to run downstairs to find Santa’s gifts under the Christmas tree. As a child, it was almost as if the spirit of Christmas was all I lived for, all I longed for, something I waited for so eagerly.
As an adult, there is no decorating for Christmas before Thanksgiving, there is no sitting by the TV watching ABC Family waiting for 25 Days of Christmas, there are no Christmas lists and definitely no Santa, there is no longer any eagerness or urgency to start Christmas at all. Why is that? Where does the Christmas spirit go through the years in which an individual experiences growth. Is it because we find out Santa isn't real? Is it because we have outgrown our cute childish antics and excitement for just about anything? Or is it because we lack or put on the back burner one very important component, time. “I don't have time for this” or “I don't have time for that”. Why is it that everything including Christmas for an adult becomes so secondary. Sure we lack time, but we somehow make time for so many other things in life.
The hustle and bustle that is Christmas time is great, but the hustle and bustle that is an adults life isn't so merry or jolly: but that is in fact life. We no longer have time to sit down and watch Christmas movies as a family, decorate Christmas cookies, decorate thoroughly like you once did, or put time and effort into wrapping gifts. It’s all done with the quickness, convenience is key. But aside from Christmas, isn't it always? Isn't the short cut always the route in which we decide to travel? If only we thought more like a child, to enjoy every second of a moment in time despite not having a lot of it, not only in Christmas, but in life. Now, looking back as an adult, I only wish I got a few more years of being a child during Christmas time. Don't you?
So, as I sit here bundled up, in front of the Christmas tree, hot coco in hand, in a horrendously cute ugly Christmas sweater, I challenge you to make time this holiday season. Even if you think you don't have enough, make some. The time you spend on your computer or your phone added up together in a day, could be the perfect amount of time to do something merry and bright. Bring back the child that was once in you by acknowledging and taking some time to be a child again. Make this Christmas the best one yet, even if it means giving up a few hours of being a boring adult. You owe it to yourself. Now, looking back as an adult, I only wish I got a few more years of being a child during the Christmas time. Don't you?
