The weather is getting colder, and the leaves are falling. A new holiday season is upon us. As the holidays approach, I reflect on how major holidays feel significantly different as an adult.
As a child, this season was the most magical time of the year. Getting extra time off school, participating in all the seasonal activities and spending time with family are a few of the things we looked forward to most.
There was no sadness, no sense of loneliness like we sometimes feel during the holidays as adults. There used to only be an exciting build up to celebration. Plus, there is a certain nostalgia associated with holidays as a child.
I remember watching the Thanksgiving Day Parade and smelling my mom’s cooking from the kitchen. I remember waking up on Christmas morning and waiting on the stairs with my siblings to see what Santa had brought us the night before. I remember always going to eat dinner with my family on New Year's Eve to celebrate the upcoming year.
Personally, these moments from my childhood have greatly altered as I have gotten older. My immediate family does not get together each year for Thanksgiving anymore. My siblings are married and have their own families to enjoy Christmas mornings with. Even New Year's Eve is celebrated separately and typically at home.
The holidays are different as an adult. The sense of tradition and excitement surrounding this time of the year is not the same. There is a missing piece of what used to be.
As adults, we have lived enough to encounter loss as well as change. These circumstances wildly change the way we view the holiday season.
Now we must carry the burden of navigating the holidays after the loss of a loved one. Now we spend holiday seasons without our entire families because they have families of their own. Now we grapple with things like seasonal depression. These disturbances did not seem to reach us when we were kids.
Now, there is a certain weight we hold as adults during the holiday season that we never thought twice about as children. Instead of pure enjoyment, the holidays can bring negative feelings and even stress.
We must be sure to buy the perfect gifts for all our family members. We spend hours creating plans months in advance. We run to the grocery store countless times because we keep forgetting the one thing we went for in the first place. There is an emotional toll we face during the holidays as adults.
Despite all this, I do not think it always has to feel this way. Even though life changes, we have the ability to create that same childlike holiday sentiment for ourselves as adults.
It might not feel the exact same as when you were eight and still believed in Santa, but it can come pretty close to it.
This holiday season, do not dwell on what is different, even though it may be hard. Instead, focus on how you can make this one better than last year's.
Whether that looks like creating new traditions of your own or celebrating in an unconventional way, embrace the holidays with open arms and allow yourself to enjoy them.
Adulting is hard, but don’t make it harder than it has to be.
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Mallorie McCoy, senior in journalism, has been a columnist for The Auburn Plainsman for four years.
