When it comes to this time of the year, after the craze of Fresher’s Week and Halloween has died down, you think you’re about to settle down for some peace and quiet. Then you see the Christmas decorations come up in the city square, the Christmas gifts on sale and the latest promotional Christmas drinks at Costa. That’s when you know: it’s almost Christmas!
For everyone who celebrates it, it’s the craziest time of the year. No matter how early you start your Christmas shopping, there’s always that one person you’re going to forget buying a gift for. But for someone who doesn’t celebrate it, it’s not quite the same.
Of course it is exciting: you’re filled with anticipation of snow and all the sweets (who are we kidding?) Then there are the Christmas meal deals, the abundant chocolate, the Christmas themed drinks in coffee shops, the cinnamon rolls, the log cakes, the markets. It’s simply irresistible! I won’t stop there. The one thing that everyone is looking forward to is the sales! Everyone gets a chance to splurge regardless of whether or not they celebrate Christmas. At the same time, though, it gets extremely annoying that when you’re wanting to go to the supermarket to get something urgently weeks before Christmas, the queue is unbearable! Everywhere you go, there are so many people.
All is good. But on Christmas day itself, the actual depression sets in. Why? Because the streets are deserted. There’s never a single soul around and all you see is emptiness! It’s sad especially because everyone goes home during Christmas, so, if you’re an international student like me and don’t, you’re basically bored with nothing to do.
However, as there are always a few of us, we tend to go even more overboard than people who actually celebrate it. Having a Christmas tree with sparkly lights and the pretty angel on it is, quite frankly, amazing! We’ve also adapted to gift giving: a stocking is a must. Secret Santa has become my absolute favourite part of Christmas: buying something for someone is always interesting because you get to learn more about the person and best of all, you get a present on Christmas day too. But as all those Harry Potter fans out there know, all you really want, is a Butterbeer at Christmas. Warm eggnogg? Not really. But Butterbeer? Yes please.
