Fluorescent lights are being put up on houses, Christmas music is blasting in practically every store, flights back home are booked for winter break, and surprisinglyā¦.a hint of sadness is in the air.Ā
Every December without fail, I pick up my phone and scroll through TikTok only to be met with hundreds of videos full of dimly lit Christmas trees, childhood holiday crafts, and old-time Christmas songs. Each video containsĀ a caption lamenting over how the holidays don’t feel the same anymore and how they would do anything to feel the magic of Christmas they way they did as a kid again.Ā
I usually skip these videos when they show up on my FYP. As a highly nostalgic person, lingering on my kindergarten memories of the excitement I would feel in the weeks leading up to Christmas and being reminded about how simple life was when I was five usually brings a tear to my eye.Ā
In these videos I’m brought back to a much simpler time. When my only worries in December were having to sing in the annual Christmas play, stressing over if my handpainted ornament would turn out good enough to put on the tree, or wondering if we would make it back home from midnight Mass faster than Santa Claus.
Itās normal to be nostalgic for childhood Christmas, especially considering most college students are at a pivotal point between childhood and adulthood. When confronted with the rapidly approaching future and the stress of final exams, the idea of wanting to go back to a simpler time is undeniably appealing.Ā
But why do we get so nostalgic for Christmas specifically? Itās normal to feel nostalgia for childhood, but the sadness I get over not being able to feel the same anticipation and magic at Christmas time stabs me in the heart much deeper than normal longing for the simplicity of childhood.
The answer lies in a combination of many different factors. For one, Christmas is basically sensory overload. Different lights, scents, and music are all associated with that time, transporting us back to the past when we experience them again. Itās the same thing with customs and traditions. Every family has their own and something about experiencing these traditions that stay the same year after year, even if everything else has changed is sometimes hard to process. The vibrant emotions associated with childhood Christmas heavily associate the holiday season with happiness, so when we donāt feel them the same way many years later its absence is extra heavy. For a lot of people, Christmas is the first time we experience the idea of magic, wonder, and anticipation and no matter how many years have passed we would do anything to experience these emotions in the same way.Ā
People are always online complaining about how Christmas will never feel the same again, and although I understand where these feelings are coming from I canāt help but notice that none of the people complaining are doing anything to fix it. Has the magic of Christmas really gone away or are we just too busy lamenting to make any effort towards participating in the Christmas spirit?
For the past month Iāve been so busy with school and finals that I havenāt had any time to even think about Christmas, but now that finals are done I plan to make the most out of the remaining days leading up to the holidays and throw myself headfirst into every festive activity imaginable.Ā
So the next time you find yourself saddened by nostalgic montage on social media I advise you to put the phone down and engage in some of the most stereotypically Christmas activities you can think of. Hang up some colorful incandescent lights, put on your favorite childhood Christmas movie, decorate some cookies, and most importantly spend time with your loved ones. I promise that some of the magic youāve been missing will come back.