Jada Cassidy helps decorate for Christmas at her house after Thanksgiving. Photo courtesy of Jada Cassidy.

Waking up in the morning and counting down the days until the best day ever can seem pretty mundane, but, for me, it’s what gets me up every day. Driving through neighborhoods at night and seeing all the lights and decorations, walking downstairs to see the luminous tree, or going into Bath and Body Works and being swallowed by the smell of Christmas all shower me with joy. Despite Christmas looking a little different over the years, the cheer in my heart never changes.

Since we celebrate Thanksgiving at my house, it isn’t very “ideal” to have a Christmas tree up while cutting the turkey and eating pie. Thankfully, we decorate the day after. The worst part of decorating is definitely fluffing the tree, but once we start putting up the ornaments, the show gets on the road. There’s nothing better than seeing all the years go by with just one decoration. All the macaroni still intact on both mine and my brother’s kindergarten ornaments takes the cake for surprisingly strong glue. 

Every year on Dec. 23, my wuela starts preparing the tamales. The scent of the masa never gets any better, but you can always taste her love. This is also when my favorite cousins come to sleep over. Christmas Eve for my family is the real deal. In the morning, I walk downstairs to join my mom to watch It’s a Wonderful Life – “When a bell rings, an angel gets its wings.” Eventually, my mom’s brother and the rest of the cousins come over and we all catch up, eat dinner, and play games with just the cousins of course. My mom is super creative every year with the prizes, from gift cards all the way to toothpaste. Since Dec. 24 is my uncle’s birthday, we always rush to sing happy birthday because that means we get to open presents immediately afterward. Truthfully, the time we open presents gets earlier and earlier each year. 

Christmas morning has hardly changed. Although Santa used to leave extra presents in the morning, now all that’s left is my stocking. I wake up a little disappointed but never defeated. Although Christmas has finally arrived, it’s also almost over. The day goes on, enjoying my new presents; and when dinner time comes, we eat the same Christmas dinner – Chinese food. Ironically, we did not get this idea from A Christmas Story. Genuinely I look forward to this feast. To end the joy filled night, we take family pictures in Town Center with the  magnificent nutcrackers. 

Although Christmas Day is always great, it’s the season that puts me in a good mood. Smelling the Christmas cheer in every song and envisioning the chestnuts roasting on an open fire can alter any day.