Some of my most vivid memories come from the week of Christmas. There were the awkward family-friend dinners on Christmas Eve, during which us kids would sit on a couch and not know how to socialize. Then, at 12:30 on Christmas morning, I’d sneak out to the living room, grab my and my siblings’ stockings and bring them back to the bedrooms so we could look at our haul. And every year, when we’re all up at seven in the morning and unwrapping presents, we poke fun at our parents’ urge to “SAVE THE BOWS! THEY’RE REUSABLE!”
Being home for the holidays really brings out the nostalgic mood for me. For the entirety of break, I’ll definitely be in a haze of memories brought on by eating too many of my mom’s frosted sugar cookies. In honor of that, here are a few ways to embrace the old memories and make new ones during this holiday season.
Look through Photo Albums & Yearbooks
I honestly love my family’s photo albums. I was an odd child, so there are plenty of ridiculous pictures of me talking to my stuffed animals (the only true friends in this world). Going through those old photos is especially fun when you’re with family, who may remember some of the events from your childhood with more accuracy and clarity. My mom always offers a funny perspective on the pictures from my preschool days, when I would get in fights with a girl over the outfits at the costume station.
Yearbooks are another fun thing to flip through. Seeing the progression from pre-pubescent to yikes to “hey, I turned out alright after middle school” can be entertaining (if not traumatizing). Memories of your old school district can be useful conversation starters, too. For my family, it’s always a competition to see which sibling remembers the most embarrassing stories about the others. Unfortunately, I don’t usually win.
Take a Walk Around Town
One thing I’ve learned since being in college is that your hometown can change drastically in a matter of months. Every time I go back home, I see new “for sale” signs. I even watched, in bits and pieces, the process of our nearby elementary school falling into disrepair before being demolished.
Watching the town change so drastically can be difficult to swallow, but there are plenty of comforts. Some things may never change: the house that has used the same nativity display since before your parents were born; the coffee shop downtown with a warm atmosphere and decent music; the pothole on 21st and Continental that still hasn’t been patched up. Noticing these similarities can evoke memories, laughter and everything in between.
Drop by Your High School
Even if you don’t look back on ninth through 12th grade as “The Best Years Of Your Life,” I guarantee at least one teacher or faculty member made a positive impact on your adolescence. If you school allows for visitors, drop in at the end of the day and catch up with a few teachers. I’ve visited my senior year English teacher and my quiz bowl coach several times over the past few years. It’s still awkward when they try to convince me to use their first names, but the conversation is always great.
If you don’t want to walk the halls, try emailing the teacher to catch up over coffee or somewhere casual. Teachers will make time to learn about what their former students are up to, and meeting outside of school allows for less time constraint.
The holiday seasons can sometimes put you in a slump, and part of that may be due to unattended nostalgia. So, my advice for the Post-Finals Stress Decompress is to embrace the nostalgia of childhood. Even if you don’t believe in Santa anymore, tapping into your childhood wonder is a sure-fire way to make the most out of your holidays.