MY CHRISTMAS EXPERIENCE

This year I had the opportunity to spend the holidays with my family in Poland and since I knew was making the trip, I decided not to do my Christmas shopping beforehand, mainly because the airlines tend to loose suitcases too many times for my comfort. Besides, I made the mistake of loading my suitcase with gifts one year and (not surprisingly, as I have learnt over the years) the luggage got lost and when they found it (the following day), all of my carefully chosen gifts were gone…

So taking the appropriate precautions this year, I went home without anything that could be stolen from my suitcase. This, unfortunately, didn’t stop the airlines from loosing my baggage yet again. But that’s a discussion for another day.

I found myself in my hometown a week before Christmas and smack in the middle of all the chaos, crowds and people running around like chickens with their heads cut off trying to squeeze in the last of the holiday shopping. So there I was among all these crazy people trying as hard as I could not to let myself be overcome with the holiday craze. Perhaps I succeeded but mostly because I chose to go in, get what I needed and leave as quickly as possible (which really wasn’t all that easy at times).

Mind you, all that activity was going on right in the middle of my Mom’s before-holidays cleaning spree. I could never understand why all of a sudden right before any big holiday, she goes absolutely insane and cleans the house from top to bottom, yelling at everyone every second of it (or so it seems)… By the time Christmas actually arrived, I was already stressed and exhausted. And the ‘fun’ hadn’t even begun yet.

Between sitting at the table most of the day, eating and drinking, and visiting all the family and friends, I felt like I needed a week just to rest from the whole holidays break. No such luck, unfortunately, because work was calling. However, it left me wondering what the point behind it all this craziness was… Aren’t the holidays supposed to be fun and relaxing?