The Christmas season sparks so much joy; it’s a season filled with memories for all of us. The time especially brings with it a huge sense of nostalgia, the feeling of longing for that time that you know is no longer there.
The cold air, the familiar lights, and family traditions really bring back this feeling. Because when most of the seasons feel like they change with you, Christmas feels like going back in time but everything feels the same and only you have changed.
A memory that is distinct to me is Christmas at my old elementary, how every year on the last day before break the whole entrance would turn into a winter wonderland. How we would come in pajamas and it was the same every year. Magical, the fake snow because we live in Miami, being with the same friends, we would watch a movie and do no work that whole day while eating Christmas-themed snacks.
This was a distinct memory every year for 10 years it was something that never changed. Maybe, I did, though. In 8th grade, the last one, I had that same feeling of excitement for that day coming in pajamas, but now we are giving gifts to each other, running the halls, we had grown up but we were still the same.
“I really love seeing all of the Christmas decorations around the neighborhoods. I love to see my girls’ faces when it’s nighttime time and the lights are extra bright. I also love the feeling of seeing my girls open up their Christmas gifts so early in the morning. The look on their faces is priceless,” said Activities Director, Mrs. Elizabeth Vuono.
From that first pajama day where I walked into that school I was scared to make the smallest mistake to running with the same people, I realized we had changed. And now when I pass by that school on the way home. I see that I have changed and grown from the last pajama day. Even though I can’t realize it. But the school looked the same as I walked there 10 years ago.
Christmas fills me with deep nostalgia. It’s not the best time of year for my family or me. My mother passed away suddenly ten years ago, and since then, even though we try to keep the season hopeful, it has never been the same. My advice: Hold your loved ones tightly and spend time with them, because one day they may no longer be here.”
“Espero que sea lo que buscas!,” said math teacher, Mrs. Rebeca Sordo. Translation: I hope the season is what you look for!”
Now that it has been almost a year since that last day, I think about it more, which brings this strong sense of nostalgia, but I also find peace with it. And as it’s winter and Christmas is around the corner, nostalgia is going to catch us. It’s human to feel this, and Christmas is the perfect time for it to catch up to us, but it makes us appreciate the memories that we do make, a memory being so good that it makes you long so hard for it again, and how it might feel bad, but it makes you appreciate the life you lived, are living, and will live.
