Kunal’s Christmas

As the semester winds down many of us are absorbed in final papers, presentations and exams. The calendar rolls over to December, and the holidays are just around the corner.

In another 10 days we’ll rush home to celebrate the birth of Jesus or the miracle of Hanukkah, we’ll exchange gifts with family and friends, sing joyful songs and partake in other seasonal festivities. This seems so wonderful, seeing a community, whether it’s Tulane or my hometown, lit up with Christmas spirit. The decorations, the friendly people and of course the mistletoe!

Sometimes I stop to think for a minute, what am I celebrating? I am neither Christian nor Jewish, but I like to think of myself as just as spirited as the next guy. I sincerely doubt that most of us are whipped into frenzy by the religious aspect of our holidays; it’s got to be the atmosphere.

December has a different feeling than the other 11 months. Something about the holiday season makes me want to do more nice things for other people, give more money to charity, and buy people more presents. It’s a time to celebrate, exams are almost over and a new year is around the corner. Most importantly, it’s a time to celebrate the friendships and relationships we take for granted the rest of the year. The significance of a holiday is not the deity whose birth it marks, or the anniversary of some obscure miracle; it’s the people you spend it with. We live our daily lives interacting with people, but it’s not until the season of giving that we even think about how important they all are to us.

This holiday season, as you gather round your trees or menorahs to see who got the biggest present, take a step back. Remember for a moment it is the people, and not the things, that make life good. Remember that it’s not all about what’s in the box, but the thought that someone put into getting it for you.

These are the things that make the holidays worth celebrating for everyone. Even though my major religious holidays fall in April and November, for me the old saying reigns true forevermore. It is “the most wonderful time of the year.” Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah and a Joyous New Year to all!

Kunal Verma is a Tulane College junior and welcomes your comments, questions, and feedback at kverma@tulane.edu.

Really? That sucks. Then again, so does Christmas.