How I Like To Spend Christmas

To put it simply, I don’t particularly care for holidays, nor do I understand the fascination surrounding a particular holiday or holiday season. It is just another day as far as I am concerned. For me, holidays are too insignificant to make a big deal about and Christmas is no exception.
However, the Christmas season, depending on where you are from, is usually a time filled with joy, laughter and merriment. In the past, I usually spent Christmas at big family gatherings enjoying, or at least giving the illusion that I enjoyed the invasion of my relatives. Multiple aunts, uncles and their children would all congregate at my parents’ home on Christmas Day and Boxing Day, chattering away while eating many mouth-watering dishes that were carefully prepared by mother.

As you’ve probably guessed by now, I disliked spending Christmas like this. As a child I often wondered why everyone couldn’t stay at their respective homes. Why did they have to come to my home? Why did they think it was okay to inconvenience my siblings, my parents and me?

These days my Christmases are usually spent on planes or in a totally different country away from those big family gatherings that I wasn’t so fond of. Christmas for me is a time to get away and explore the world of the unknown. Traveling to far away lands, meeting new and interesting people and enjoying the local food, traditions and customs are the ways I like to spend Christmas these days. Whether I am alone or whether I am with friends, my Christmases are spent going from airport to airport, city to city, reveling in the different faces I see, the different voices or sounds I hear and enjoying the fact that I do not have to pretend to enjoy entertaining my relatives or even family friends.

So what do I actually do on Christmas? What do I actually eat? Who do I spend it with? The answers to these questions are simple. I go wherever I want. I eat whatever I feel like eating on that day or whatever I am in the mood for. It could be steak, chicken, noodles, soup or anything that I eat on a regular day. Who do I spend it with? It could be anyone. Do I make special plans? No. Do I cook or make special food? No. Do I eat cake just because it’s Christmas? No. Why would I? Christmas is not any different from any other day for me so why would I go out of my way to make it anything but what it is, just another day.

The bottom line is, I don’t get caught up with the excitement of Christmas or the Christmas season. I either spend it exploring corners of the world that I have not previously explored or staying quietly at home with my thoughts, which if I really think about it, is no different than what I normally do.

Simone

Vocabulary

fascination (n) – the state of feeling an intense interest in something
merriment (n) – cheerful fun or enjoyment
congregate (v) – to gather together or meet, especially in large numbers
mouth-watering (adj.) – looking to be very delicious
revel (v) – to enjoy oneself in a lively way; to take great pleasure in something
go out of one’s way (idiom) – make a special effort to do something