The Most Wonderful Time of the Year

To me, the month of December truly is the most wonderful time of the year. It’s the beginning of the holiday season, ABC Family begins airing its annual “25 Days of Christmas” special, and most importantly, I get to eat Christmas cookies whenever I please. I have always been an advocate of holiday spirit, hanging lights in my room and blasting Mariah Carey’s “All I Want For Christmas Is You.”

While Christmas is really about the celebration of Jesus’ birthday, our society has transformed the holiday into an elaborate event where giving the most extravagant gift earns the most credit. I am not against this social norm in any way, and enjoy waking up Christmas morning to a tree with beautifully wrapped gifts lying underneath it.

One of the gift giving traditions I have always loved is “Secret Santa.” My group of friends from high school and I have always engaged in this festivity and get small gifts for each other. This year in college, I suggested to a few of the girls on my floor that we do an exchange and also asked  a few of our guy friends from the floor below. We were skeptical at first of the boys’ ability to pick out appropriate gifts for us girls, but we put our trust in them and had them pick names along with the eight of us girls.

Two nights ago, my roommate and I bought milk and cookies, decorated our door with a Christmas wreath, and turned up the Pandora Christmas radio. We invited the members of our Secret Santa over to our room to exchange gifts. The holiday cheer was spread throughout the room as we gave each other our gifts. The boys really held up their end of the deal and gave really thoughtful gifts to some of the girls.

When I was picking out my gift I realized how hard finding the perfect gift is. There are so many things to buy, yet I wanted to get the perfect one. I contemplated multiple necklaces, a few different shirts, and a scarf. I wanted to make sure my friend would love it and realized that gift giving is somewhat of an art. Buying a generic shirt would feel too impersonal, so I went with what I felt best suited my friend’s personality, and I ended up with a gold, long chained necklace with turquoise stones in the center.  

Seeing how much effort and thought each person put into the purchase of his or her gift made me realize how much a simple gesture can mean. The gifts were not expensive or elaborate, yet they were from the heart and that’s what matters in the end. The Christmas spirit was definitely in the air the night of Stuart Hall’s “Secret Santa.”