Christmas

Ahh... Christmas break. A break from the constant workload everyday in our capitalist society. A well-needed break that everyone deserves. I like to think of Christmas break as more of an absence, and you can fill it (or not!) however you would choose too. People look towards this long gap of responsibilities with great joy, with great envy and longning. A longing similar to an intense romantic crush, Christmas break also fulfills our desires. And yes, when I refer to Christmas break, I am refering it to the sense of a traditional school child, where school (and probably church) is your only responsibility.

Christmas is not my favorite holiday. Christmas sure is very exiciting, but most of my joy during break is based in anticipation. In other words, the anticipation for Christmas is more joyful than actual Christmas day. Everything just feels so beautiful during break. I start to notice the ice shimmering, which was simply a hassle trying to walk home with.

There are many things I love about Christmas break.

• My gatherings with my cousins, who are very fun to be around. They are interested in topics similar to ones I like, and I enjoy their company
• Short walks with snow and ice on the ground. Everything just feels so pure, so beautiful. Even the dirty snow is unnoticable, just seen as a beautiful contrast. There is this old baseball field I love to walk around. It's 2 blocks away from my house and during Christmas break, it is completely unused. I love to walk around my block, then walk around the baseball field, staring at the footprints and looking at the beautiful snow. Even though it is bitterly cold and my hands have scars from the winter air, it is still calming and peaceful.
• The peaceful nights where there is no need to prepare for sleep. When I have school nights, I have to prepare for sleep for around an hour with a wind-down routine (my parents try to be accommodating but my brothers return from late basketball practices isn't exactly peaceful) or else it feels impossible to fall asleep (thanks autism). I don't have to prepare for sleep these nights, and for once, my family is actually calm, I am no longer the one with the "early bedtime", the "over-sensitive" one, the "overreacter". I usually am downstairs and because my parents go to bed earlier than me on weekends, I finally get peace to be by myself (going upstairs during freetime to be alone is ehh, it's kinda uncomfortable compared to the isolated couch downstairs.)