My Relationship With Christmas

Submitted by Shaun on Tue 18/12/12

With Christmas just a week away, our writers are giving their views on the festive season in a series of posts. Last week we had Colombian student Johanna describing her first Christmas in England and Erik explaining the tradition of St Nicolas' Day in his home country of Slovakia. Here Shaun Dent describes his relationship with Christmas:

"Christmas for me is a bit of a double edged sword. I love Christmas itself. Going right back to my childhood, it consists of getting new toys, spending time locked up in the warmth playing with new toys, and eating far too much. What more could you want with your time off?

I tend to work right up till Christmas so this is still very much a holiday for me, as I didn't like going to school a great deal either. Also no university essays are looming anymore, which is far more pleasant. The toys may change (tablet computers rather than Lego), whilst some stay the same (I have some gaming to catch up on...), but a lot about Christmas still feels as good as it always does.

But I Actually Hate Christmas...

Or rather I hate everything that goes with it. I've had people asking me about my Christmas plans since the end of October, to which I always reply "it's not even December yet!". I'm sure there is a conspiracy to make Christmas start earlier every year. I have still only ordered two presents, partly out of principal, partly out of laziness. Oh and Christmas songs? I don't understand why we have to have certain songs at certain times of year, if you like it then play it all year? I'm just thankful I don't work in retail. I really feel for those poor souls who have to endure that music all day.

A Christmas of Firsts

This year is going to be a bit different however. It is the first time I'm celebrating Christmas away from my parents in the flat I share with my girlfriend. So not only am I away from my family, it's also our very first Christmas alone (which is also a good reason why I need to get on with getting presents sorted really). Also it is the first Christmas I will not only be cooking dinner, but a vegetarian one at that. I don't know what I'm going to cook yet, I'll need to do some research. It will have to be something that we will have lots of because I normally live of turkey and cheese sandwiches for days afterwards.

All in all I am looking forward to Christmas this year. It's going to be very different, but I'm sure parts of it will still be as awesome as always."

Shaun Dent is a writer for ForeignStudents.com. Read more of his posts here.