I think we all know that feeling at the end of the semester when all you want to do is get the hell out of dodge and head home for the holidays. By the end of exams I was just about ready to carry my giant suitcase home if that's what it took. I was absolutely sure that the "No Place Like Home for the Holidays" song was telling me the gospel truth. And for a while, it was.
There's nothing quite like that first just-arrived-home feeling. I love getting to relax, finally getting enough sleep, eating my mom's much touted cooking, just seeing my family and catching up with my high school friends. I find the whole process of homecoming pretty delightful at any time, but the Christmas music, the tree and the decorations are just the icing on top of the comfortable, relaxing gingerbread house.
Of course during the holidays there are bound to be stressful times interspersed among the seasonal glee. Just trying to find the right gifts for your nearest and dearest is a minefield of potentially dashed hopes. Then of course there are family visits. At my house there was a weekend when at one point we were entertaining 18 people, many of them overnight guests. That is bound to be rather a fraught situation.
But there is something about being with family during the holidays which makes you forget the inconveniences of sharing a bathroom and sleeping on the couch and instead makes you focus on the raucous laughter coming from the dining room or the cutthroat thrill of a dirty Santa. Getting the family together for the holidays may be kind of a hassle, but there's a reason why most people do it - it usually pays dividends in fellow feeling.
But as we all know, the holidays must eventually come to an end. The tree must be undressed, the turkey leftovers must be systematically disposed of and all of the presents must be put away. Around a week after New Year's, the shiny tinsel starts to come off of the metaphorical tree.
I never get tired of being home with my family, per se, but after a certain amount of time the novelty of some home-like activities begins to wear thin. There's joy in being helpful, taking the cans upon cans of trash to the street for instance, but the smell seeping from a heavy garbage can as you lug it down a giant hill is less than pleasant. After a while even the comfort of spending days on the sofa watching television begins to seem a whole lot like prolonged boredom. If you had told me at the beginning of break that I would be yearning to get back to classes and my tiny, freezing bedroom in Charlottesville, I would certainly have at least looked at you askance, but that is exactly what happened.
As I have attempted to make clear in this column, the wanderlust driving me back to school had nothing to do with wishing to spend less time with my family. Instead, it was more of a desire - which I am sure most of you are familiar with - to be doing my own thing in my own place. I was ready to come back to Charlottesville, to my classes and friends, because right now that is exactly where I am meant to be and what I am meant to be doing. I was ready, again, to have control of my own schedule and the responsibility of my own commitments.
Alex's column runs biweekly Wednesdays. She can be reached at a.davis@cavalierdaily.com.
Read More
At Emmy Squared, Detroit-style pizza is upstaged by star handhelds and sides
By Xander Tilock | YesterdayEmmy Squared is a Brooklyn-based restaurant that serves Detroit-style pizza and recently expanded into Charlottesville.
Sustainability in the lecture hall and beyond
By Ingrid Gay | 3 days agoStudents in all three of these programs stress that now, more than ever, it is important to be learning about our environment.
Top 10 pieces of advice from fourth-year students
By Sam Saks | 4 days agoThe following pieces of advice will help you achieve academic success and personal growth during the remainder of your college experience
