The holidays hold a different meaning from when you used to live at home with your family to now living on your own away at college. You’re older with less money, more responsibility, and a different outlook on life. So going home for Christmas is a totally new experience.
1. Having to borrow money from your parents to afford Christmas presents because you’re broke
2. Secret Santa with your friends gets really inappropriate.
3. Ugly Christmas sweater parties are an excuse to dress up like Santa’s little helper.
4. Final exams restrict you from feeling that holiday cheer.
5. But all of campus is glistening with lights and wreaths.
6. Your housemates bought a five-dollar tinsel tree that’s three feet tall. That’s the most decorating you’re probably going to do.
7. Missing out on decorating the Christmas tree at home can be a bummer.
8. But finally being home and not having to worry about classes are a blessing.
9. You know your job at home is waiting for you, so you try to cram in as many hours as you can.
10. With the amount you’re being paid you’ll be able to afford to get one of your family members a decent gift.
11. Wrestling your siblings, like you did when you were younger, for the Christmas cards that come in the mail is a weird tradition.
12. Christmas actually comes around and you see half of your family on Christmas Eve and they ask you a million and three questions about your life.
13. But you answer them with a smile that is about to tear your face in half because they just handed you a fifty-dollar bill along with your twenty-dollar gift card for Target.
14. Christmas day comes, and your younger siblings are up at the ass crack of dawn because “SANTA CAME!”
15. You pretend to be surprised when you open your gifts, but you took your parents credit card and went shopping for yourself already.
16. You pretty much inhale the food on Christmas because you feel like you’re eating like royalty compared to the food in your dining hall.
17. Then you get to see the other half of your family on Christmas day and they also have a million and three questions about your life. The answers sound rehearsed because they pretty much were from the night before.
18. Reminiscing about old times and sharing new memories you made at college is a time you’ve been waiting for.
19. Going to the local bar with your friends and seeing the people you graduated with can be a lot of fun.
20. It’s fun to see how much people have changed since graduation.
21. You spend the whole time at the New Years Eve party finding someone to kiss at midnight.
22. The ball drops at midnight on New Years Eve and you find yourself drunkenly stuffing your face with grandmas Christmas cookies with your besties.
23. Going home for Christmas as a college student is a totally different experience than when you used to live at home. You may not realize it, but the little things in life are what make it so special. The holidays are a time to come together and celebrate, so being able to go home is something you shouldn’t take for granted.