Wait, Halloween is over?
People who don't know me very well sometimes ask me, "If you go THIS crazy during Halloween, what is it like during Christmas?" And the answer is: not too different from most people.
I identify with Halloween. I've explained the reasons time and again, and they will not be repeated now. In the past few years I've sort of "claimed" Halloween as my time to show what I've got. But even though Halloween is my main holiday, I still love Christmastime. Enough so that I still can't definitively say that Halloween is my FAVORITE holiday. I put Halloween and Christmas on equal plains, even though I celebrate harder for Halloween.
It's a different feel. Christmas has more nostalgia to it. As Ralphie says, "Christmas. The day around which the entire kid year revolves." I still remember pretty vividly what it was like to be able to literally forget my trivial kid troubles and spend a month anticipating the arrival of Christmas. All my shopping was done on one day - at the Santa's Secret Shop at school. Oh, the ashtrays and keychains. We'd make decorations in class (a tradition that, in retrospect, severely alienates non-Christians, and I'm glad I was too young to be PC back then). I'd make a paper chain and tear off the days. That chain seemed so long.
As it got closer to the day, the time passage was even more agonizingly slow. There would be no school to distract you, and with no responsibilities, you had nothing to do but wait and hope. And the actual night of Christmas Eve? Forget about it. Longest night ever. Sleep was virtually out of the question most years, and I remember for me the Sega Game Gear was the portable system of choice for sleepless nights because it had a backlit screen.
I wish I could pinpoint what year it all reversed. Suddenly Christmas started coming and going too fast instead of too slow. I stopped having insomnia on Christmas Eve. I started to stress about gift-giving. I wish I could remember a year in the middle, where the time passage was just acceptable.
Anyway, I see that I've gotten lost in tangents. I'll finish with this - Christmas is the only time I ever experience this level of pure and utter contentment. Sure, my adult life necessitates that I MAKE these moments happen, but they still do happen, albeit in small fragments. And I love it as much as anyone, I suppose.
I identify with Halloween. I've explained the reasons time and again, and they will not be repeated now. In the past few years I've sort of "claimed" Halloween as my time to show what I've got. But even though Halloween is my main holiday, I still love Christmastime. Enough so that I still can't definitively say that Halloween is my FAVORITE holiday. I put Halloween and Christmas on equal plains, even though I celebrate harder for Halloween.
It's a different feel. Christmas has more nostalgia to it. As Ralphie says, "Christmas. The day around which the entire kid year revolves." I still remember pretty vividly what it was like to be able to literally forget my trivial kid troubles and spend a month anticipating the arrival of Christmas. All my shopping was done on one day - at the Santa's Secret Shop at school. Oh, the ashtrays and keychains. We'd make decorations in class (a tradition that, in retrospect, severely alienates non-Christians, and I'm glad I was too young to be PC back then). I'd make a paper chain and tear off the days. That chain seemed so long.
As it got closer to the day, the time passage was even more agonizingly slow. There would be no school to distract you, and with no responsibilities, you had nothing to do but wait and hope. And the actual night of Christmas Eve? Forget about it. Longest night ever. Sleep was virtually out of the question most years, and I remember for me the Sega Game Gear was the portable system of choice for sleepless nights because it had a backlit screen.
I wish I could pinpoint what year it all reversed. Suddenly Christmas started coming and going too fast instead of too slow. I stopped having insomnia on Christmas Eve. I started to stress about gift-giving. I wish I could remember a year in the middle, where the time passage was just acceptable.
Anyway, I see that I've gotten lost in tangents. I'll finish with this - Christmas is the only time I ever experience this level of pure and utter contentment. Sure, my adult life necessitates that I MAKE these moments happen, but they still do happen, albeit in small fragments. And I love it as much as anyone, I suppose.