From my earliest memories as a child to now as a new adult, I’ve seen dramatic changes to how my family has celebrated Christmas. The holidays would always be celebrated at my house each year when I was younger. My grandpa and grandma would decorate the house with lights, there would always be two light-up reindeer outside the front of our house and the kids would be given the mission of placing ornaments on the tree, which would only reach half of the tree because we couldn’t reach the top. The adults would have conversations in the kitchen, while my cousins and I ran up and down the entire house until we got tired. We’d sleep the night through until the morning and would be woken up with the smell of food and my parents yelling to come down for breakfast. I remember one of my past Christmas’ after eating, my parents called my sister and I out to the backyard. Sitting by the door was a miniature make-up table play set. It was one of my favorite gifts I got as a child. The family would hang out, play games, and talk about past memories until dinner time. After eating dinner, the kids would run to the long table that would be filled with presents. Before opening them, the kids would climb onto the table and organize the gifts by name. Children would always open their presents first and get toys or clothes they didn’t ask for. Adults would give each other useful items or prank their siblings with used items that had pretty wrapping and a big bow on top.

I loved celebrating Christmas with my family as a kid. Now, it doesn’t feel the same anymore. I don’t feel the same cheerfulness as I did when I was younger. My grandma has become too fragile to decorate the house as she did before, and the light-up reindeer were thrown away a few years ago. I still decorate the tree with my sister, but it’s not as fun anymore. Everyone has other families to go to for the holidays now. We’re lucky if the whole family is able to come over for Christmas. Us kids hang out in our rooms while the adults argue about what dish to make for Christmas dinner. We do have a game night, but it’s filled with so much competitiveness that we all eventually quit. Finding gifts for my family, now that I have the money to afford presents, is hard. I always end up asking them what they want because I’m scared of buying something they won’t like. Since I’m not able to see my family as often, I usually get gifts I asked for the year prior.

I’m grateful I get to see my family during the holidays, but times have changed. I hope when I’m older, my cousins and I can give our kids the same Christmas feeling we felt as kids and the tradition stays strong for generations.