By Gabriella Nutile
Features Editor
Christmas Day is a time of joy and excitement, and it is my absolute favorite holiday. There is something about Christmas that just makes everything better, even if it is just for a day. There are several reasons why this day is as special as it is to so many.
“‘Well,’ said Winnie the Pooh, ‘what I like best,’ and then he had to stop and think. Because although eating honey was a very good thing to do, there was a moment just before you began to eat it, which was better than when you were, but he didn’t know what that was called.” Well, Pooh, that moment that you love so much just before you eat your honey is called anticipation, and that, to me, is the best part about Christmas.
While the day itself is amazing, it’s the build-up that makes everything about it so extraordinary.
It’s the Christmas music that plays all month long on the radio, it’s the run of 25 Days of Christmas movies that is played on Freeform’s channel, and it’s the aroma of freshly baked cookies that spreads throughout the household. Not to mention, it’s the dazzling Christmas lights and adornments that people put so much effort and time into and the magical feeling that pervades the atmosphere and captivates the hearts of so many people. It’s all of this that creates the overwhelming feeling of eagerness for Christmas to come.
Even though the anticipation is my favorite part of the season, it’s the traditions on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day that help make this holiday my favorite one as well.
My whole family is Catholic and we all go to Christmas Eve mass together, which is probably my favorite mass of the entire year. We then all meet at my Nana’s and enjoy our Feast of the Seven Fishes. So in addition to my entire family being the same religion, we are also all Italian, so naturally we have to participate in this feast on the night of Christmas Eve or else we wouldn’t be true Italians. We also always have to sing “12 Days of Christmas” after dinner, each willing participant picking his or her number out of a hat.
Christmas morning is probably the only morning that I am more than willing to wake up as early as the birds outside. While my parents don’t wake up until a normal time in the morning, my sister and I always end up impatiently waiting for them and let time pass by making breakfast and staring at the beautifully wrapped presents underneath the tree with the movie “A Christmas Story” (1983) on the television.
My family always hosts Christmas at our house, so we all get ready and prepared for our company to come over, putting our gifts underneath the tree to give to each other during the evening. Besides the food being amazing, it’s my family members coming together wearing their ugly Christmas sweaters that makes it that much more amazing. And while the exchanging of gifts is obviously a great part of Christmas, it’s the intangible that makes it so remarkable.
The Christmas season brings out the kid in all of us, filling our hearts with hope and magic, enabling us to see things in a more optimistic light. It’s during this season that everyone seems to smile a little bigger, laugh a bit louder, and their spirits shine a lot brighter and that’s what it should all be about.
