By Staff
Krichelle Halualani
The older we get, the faster time flies…wasn't Halloween just the other day, and I'm sure Thanksgiving was yesterday. Well it has happened again this year, too. It surprises me when anyone says, "Christmas is here." To me, the holidays feel like I'm waiting for the bus to arrive. I know the bus is coming; it's just around the corner. Then, just when I can see the bus approaching, the bus driver "puts the pedal-to-the-metal," and the bus flies by me going 80 miles per hour, purposely drives close to the curb and splashes a huge puddle of muddy water all over me. Then I'm left to wonder where the bus went, how come I wasn't on it, and how did I end up looking so disheveled after it passed me?
As a child, I remember soaking-in each holiday, trying to make it last forever. Just the anticipation of the holiday was enough to fill me with the jitters. Trick-or-treating and planning our costumes felt like it took days. We'd take our buckets of candy and count the pieces over and over again, and I'm sure we stayed up until midnight eating our candy that lasted forever.
Thanksgiving felt the same way. I'm sure mom started cooking on November 1st and the turkey was always in the oven for at least a week. Sweet potatoes, green beans, dressing, mashed potatoes and gravy lined the huge table that seemed to go from one end of the house to the other. Thanksgiving Day, with all of the family around the table must have lasted for days. I wouldn't eat for an entire week after Thanksgiving finally ended.
Now those holidays were fun but, Christmas was a different story, all together. Time stood still when I was a child and everything lasted forever, especially Christmas. Christmas took a full, long year to arrive. I counted each day down from 364 in anticipation of creating my new Christmas list. October couldn't come fast enough, then November, and finally December. I was ready; the bus wasn't going to leave me standing on the curb! As the decorations lined the house, and the Christmas music filled the air, I would get a case of the jitters that lasted the entire month.
The trimming of the tree was an occasion to itself which lasted about two months. We had a party devoted entirely to decorating the tree, complete with eggnog and homemade cookies. (Of course it seemed like mom had us making cookies in November, sometime around Thanksgiving.) Once the tree was decorated with lights, ornaments, and garland, we would all sit around the wonderful aroma of pine and bask in the glow of Christmas. Not moving, my whole family would stare at the tree for what seemed like an entire week.
After eating all of the little candies in the "Christmas-countdown-calendar," Christmas Eve would finally arrive. The one day I had waited for, counted-down and anticipated was finally here!
On Christmas morning time was infinite. It never seemed to stop, the presents, packages, paper, and toys. The magic was real, I felt it in my heart and it lasted an eternity.
This Christmas, my wish to you is that you find the long-lasting spirit you had as a child. May it bless you and your family and may it help to make your Christmas morning last forever.