Growing up, Christmas was viewed as this magical time with colorful decorations and preparations for Santa all the time. Presents pile up under the tree, and time spent with family is valued. The thing is, as everyone grows up that magic seems to dissipate.
The ploy of Santa is revealed, whether by kids on the school bus or when a parent breaks the news. If someone has no younger siblings they might find themselves no longer laying out cookies or milk for Santa either, and time and effort for the tree is much shorter as education gets stricter. This loss of whimsy can affect both students and staff alike.
“Christmas for me was knowing what day Santa would show up and trying to stay up to catch him but couldn’t because my mom would make hot chocolate which left me sleepy, I remember sprinting out the hall after waking up super early because I knew Santa had visited,” junior Alyssa Rodriquez said. “Now I barely wake up and just lay in bed not expecting much because all of my presents are things I’ve bought for myself, the magic just isn’t there anymore, making Christmas like another day.”
The feeling of responsibility toward the holiday also grows in students.
“It just doesn’t feel like a break anymore, you used to wake up all excited rushing downstairs, and everybody is awake and ready,” sophomore Hayden Wells said. “Now it just feels like another responsibility, you have all these presents to buy and sometimes you have homework over the break, nobody wants to get out of bed, it just became another task you never want to deal with.”
These feelings affect not only teens but staff too.
“Christmas as a kid was much less stressful, and time felt slow. Like even as a teenager it felt so long and it was the same amount of time students have now,” history teacher Whitney Van Cleave said. “Now it’s very expensive, you got to make all this food and get ready for guests, make sure you don’t make anyone upset, you don’t think about that as a kid you’re on break.”
But this never meant the Christmas cheer disappeared according to Whitney Van Cleave.
“Christmas even with all of this is still really special, especially when you have kids,” she said. “You get to see them happy and you spend time with people you may not always have time to see, and maybe it’s because I’m a teacher but it still is a break, just a busy one I spend with others.”
