I was scrolling on TikTok the other day and saw a series of curated Christmas lists providing gift suggestions to put on a Christmas list.
Each Christmas list or gift guide was organized by common characteristics and, of course, keeping up with new trends. This year especially, social media is filled with gift guides.
But this holiday season, I realized I don’t have a Christmas list –– and honestly, I’m glad I don’t.
Excessive shopping and gifting is always a big part of the holiday season, but I’ve gotten to the point where I’m content with the clothing, makeup and materials I have already. As I get older, I’ve found I focus more on new experiences and travel rather than the numerous gift ideas picked out for me by my TikTok algorithm.
Although gifts are always nice to receive, I’d much rather have my family surprise me and pick out gifts they think I would like rather than having them choose gifts off a carefully crafted Christmas list.
As much fun as it was over the years to create the perfect Christmas list with the newest “must-haves,” I realized I’ve come to the age where I’ve fully outgrown creating Christmas lists.
But as I grew out of Christmas lists to send to my parents, I wondered how the entire holiday season would continue to change.
Did I outgrow all of my family’s holiday traditions? Does moving away mean I miss holiday excitement?
It’s my second year away at college, and as I transitioned from living at home to visiting home on breaks, the holiday season seems to be cut down to a few short days. With only a couple days before Christmas, I’ve found holiday traditions like curating the perfect Christmas list, hunting for the perfect tree or baking for the holidays are missed out on the longer you are away from home.
Instead of being overly excited for the holiday season like I was before — decorating and doing Christmas countdowns — I find myself stressed with finals and very comfortable in my routine on campus leading up to the holiday break. Traveling home disrupts my routine at school. As the holidays continue to change, I’m never quite sure what to expect over the season.
Sure, Christmas is still exciting, but as I said before, I will have already missed out on the decorating, driving around to see Christmas lights and holiday baking. And this season especially, I found myself wondering if I should be buying gifts rather than receiving them.
Instead of receiving gifts and asking for gifts on a list, should I be playing Santa?
Either way, visiting home for the holidays and not having a Christmas list definitely has made me more appreciative of the giving aspect of the holiday season. By focusing on the gift giving part of the season rather than the decorating and other family traditions, I’ve learned to become grateful for this part of the holidays.
And without a list and the expectation of gifts received, I am now more appreciative of gifts my family members thought I would like to receive. As for gift giving, shopping for other people is always very exciting!
This holiday season, I am enjoying making lists of gifts I want to buy for my family members. And even though change within celebrating the holiday season is inevitable, the changes in celebrating don’t make the holiday season any less special.
