I know we are only in November, but I am already so excited for the holidays, especially Christmas. Not necessarily the day itself, but even all the days leading up to it when the entire city is lit by Christmas lights, and you get together with friends and family and eat lots and lots of food, which is obviously everyone’s favourite part right? Also, I really want it to snow, because last time that it did I remember going sledding and having snowball fights with my friends, until it got so cold we couldn’t feel our fingers anymore. On top of that, most people I know have their birthday in December, including myself, therefore it is really the most festive time of the year for me.
I know my international friends are going back home to see their friends and family which is something I know they looked forward to for a long time. Because I’m from the Netherlands, I will get to spend my holidays back in my own city. I am very excited to catch up with my high school friends I haven’t seen in such a long time . There is, however, one thing I am the most excited about: my trip to Scotland at the end of the year, which me and my friend impulsively booked one night. Our sixteen-year-old selves must be so proud right now, since we have been saying for ages that we wanted to go there to celebrate our birthdays together. I can’t wait to go pub crawling, visit the Highlands and go spot the Loch Ness monster.
The only thing I don’t like about the holiday season is the part where I have to go gift shopping.The first reason is the fact that I always magically forget all interests someone I have known for ages has, the moment I have to buy them something.The second problem is that I do not have a filter and for me, sky is the limit. I will literally buy anything if I think it’s good. Lastly on the list of champagne problems is the struggle that the person I’m buying presents for, also never seems to know what they want either, making my job close to impossible. Nevertheless, there is still a tiny part at the very corner of my soul that does not completely hate gift shopping. Mostly because I treat it as a sport where I make it my personal responsibility to exceed all expectations from last year and give people something that is twice as good as what they previously got.
Hopefully I’m not the only holiday season fanatic in November, and for everyone who is just as excited as me, I hope you will have a great time going back home to family and friends. Even if you are not going home at all, I hope winter break can still be something you look forward to. Because we will be doing a lot of that, for the next twenty-five days…
Author: Gauri Ghisai
Editor: Phoebe Elliott
Visuals by: Lam Ngoc Do