So it’s Christmas time again. Looking around this week, I can’t believe how fast it has all gone. Once again, December has flown by. Christmas is right around the corner, along with family gatherings and giving galore. The music playing, the snow on the ground; many factors come together to make this season so special. Most of all, though, are the people we have here.
Every year, the holiday season comes around, and we see the deluge of traditional markers. The spectre of sales such as Black Friday and Cyber Monday start to appear in advertisements. Santa Claus and snowmen begin to populate the streets and televisions. Christmas trees pop up in windows all over town, and lights are strung on the rooftops.
Now I know I talked a few weeks ago about how I felt mid-November was too early to start with Christmas, but that’s not because I dislike the season. There’s something about the holiday that makes me wish it went on longer. But part of the reason I believe it is such a special time of the year is that it’s so short.
There is only one big “holiday season.” Christmas and its contemporaries are arguably the biggest holidays of the year in this country. Nothing compares in terms of how many people celebrate and participate in them. There isn’t a holiday season once every three months or even every half a year. If Christmas was all the time, it wouldn’t be as special now, would it? It only comes once a year, and we have to make the most of it.
But in all my experience as someone growing up and living here in central Minnesota, I’ve never seen us to ever have had a problem in doing just that. Everyone in our great cities and towns knows how to make the Christmas spirit go, and I always appreciate that. Now especially, as I finish my senior year of high school and prepare to go off into the new world of college, I will make sure to carry that with me. I’ve always been inspired by Christmas in Minnesota, and no matter where life takes me, it will be the standard that everything else gets compared to.
And so that’s what I really enjoy most about the holiday season. The people, the sights, the special experiences all coming together to bring out the most of these often-cold winter days, and of us. I think we just have a special set of circumstances that makes everything here for us just that more extraordinary.
But it’s not just a season for decorations, music and holiday foods, good as they are. It’s also a time for giving and for thanks of what we have. People volunteer in droves, gifts are assembled and families gather. People, and the world, are brought closer. We realize in the end, we are all in this together, and we share in our common experiences.
With this season of thanks, I would like to give my own thank-you and special shout-out to everyone reading this. I thank you all for the wonderful opportunity to write and provide columns for your reading throughout the year. I know everyone is busy, and so I really appreciate your taking a little time out to read several hundred words each week. I enjoy hearing your feedback, and I’m truly honored to be able to do this.
So enjoy every second of the holidays since they are with us now. I hope your days are merry and bright. This is the time of year when truly special things happen, and life takes turns that might not have been expected. May you have a holiday season to be remembered for years to come.
Connor Kockler is a Sauk Rapids-Rice High School student. He enjoys writing, politics and news, among other interests.
