Ever since I could remember, the only thing about Christmas that excited me was receiving gifts on Christmas Eve and Christmas. I didn’t really enjoy this time with my family because I couldn’t relate to anyone else due to being so much different from everyone in my family. On Christmas Eve, I would go to my grandparents’ house to eat dinner and open my presents they got me, and after that, go back to my house until the next morning, when I would wake up and open my presents my parents got me.

Back then, I only saw Christmas as a way to receive stuff I liked. I didn’t look forward to seeing family or even friends because when I was a little kid, I didn’t really talk to other kids nor did I have that many friends that I could look forward to hanging out with over Christmas break. I always enjoyed being out of school, but I never did anything with it. The only thing I did over Break was celebrate Christmas, and after that, I did nothing.

It wouldn’t be until high school that I started to see Christmas in a different way. During my sophomore year of high school, I made a lot of friends, and I got excited thinking about seeing them again over the Christmas break, but I still didn’t really hang out with people yet. The same with my junior year, when I made more friends, I didn’t hang out with any of them.

It wasn’t until the beginning of this year that I started hanging out with people. This year, I hung out with so many people that it is astonishing. I went from hanging out with nobody to hanging out with my friends every week. This month alone, I went with my friend Zoe to downtown Irwin to attend an event called the cookie tour. A couple of days ago, I picked up my friend Nico from his house to drive him to the high school to watch our friend Liliy competing in wrestling. And finally, yesterday I took my three friends Enzo, Nathan, and Kaden out to eat at Buffalo Wild Wings.

This year has taught me that Christmas isn’t about getting gifts. It is spending time with people who make you feel loved and appreciated. It is also about enjoying your life to the fullest and not wasting a moment of it, not doing anything.