Happy holidays
If I had only one wish for Christmas, it’s that I won’t be an entire clothing size bigger—from medium to large. Parties and sweets from everyone, though, will try to ensure that this is a wish I have to work my hardest to accomplish.
We’re in the home stretch of the holiday season—culminating with the celebration of both Christmas and New Year on Sundays (making for an even greater excuse to pig out and worry about our waistlines later).
However, I am having a hard time getting into the holiday spirit per se, with both work and nonwork commitments piling up. It seems ironic that, in the holiday season, I’m finding it difficult to squeeze in even an hour to go exercise the guilt and the pounds away, which I think should not be the case.
We do greet each other “happy holidays” and not “harried holidays,” which is what this has turned to for most people. Instead of channeling good ol’ Saint Nick, most of us seem to be doing our best Voldemort impressions and thinking of just getting through these next two weeks instead of enjoying it.
For our holidays to be happy, we need to go find our happy place— remember what makes this time worth being cheerful about.
My particular happy memory is not from my childhood but from just a few years back. All my cousins were around, there was an extremely long weekend, and we all went on a food trip that I regret nothing about to this day (this is why I don’t have six-pack abs).
We didn’t have plans; we just went with the flow and were spontaneous about it. As a kid, I had thought that receiving the newest toy or the latest model of Nike Jordans was the highlight of Christmas. Almost 10 years later, I can almost assure you that isn’t the case.
The highlight of Christmas for me now is being able to sleep in and wake up when my body tells me to, not when my alarm clock does. It’s being able to leisurely devote 45 minutes of my time to working out without having to rush home and change to go to work.
It’s watching a Chinese action movie with family (the campy, Chuck Norris kind, of course) not understanding the plot, but still laughing our eyes out because we can’t get over the main character’s serious, pouty look. Simple enough, but it’s times like these that, for me, make the holidays worth spending— remembering that we may have our share of disappointments, disagreements, and disgruntlements with each other, but we are still family at the end of the day. And family looks out for family—blood being thicker than water. This I have come to be thankful for.
What happy place do you go back to? I hope you find it and have happy holidays these next few weeks.
Advanced Merry Christmas and a happy New Year to all.