Christmas expectations

‘Tis the season to be jolly, rude, broke or simply frustrated over the commercialism and expectations that it brings each December. Because of this, The Eagle staff members responded with mixed reactions over the season and its ramifications over their lives for the next 21 days. Here’s some of their thoughts:
Caitlin Wright likes the holidays. “It’s like all the joy of family, friends and as much amazing-artery-clogging food as you can eat meshed into one.” According to Wright, the holidays make her happy and are quite literally one of the only times her whole family can get together. She admits she is selfish when it comes to her family but that they are “totally worth it.” Wright reports that her family is “crazy sometimes” and “definitely loud” but they have tons of fun together. At Christmas, “there are games, great food . . and everything that I love to do most and I get to do it with the ones I love most … If the holidays are an excuse for us to take a break from our hectic lives for a little while so we can spend some quality time together, then bring it on.”
Kellie Henderson also loves the holidays and admits that no matter how old she gets she will always be “filled with bliss” when she hears her favorite Christmas song or decorates for Christmas. “My family has always reserved the holidays as a time where we can be together and simply enjoy each other and the atmosphere of good cheer.”
Marsha Jensen is not so positive; “The holidays are a time for huge dinners, loud families and presents right?” Not according to Jensen who believes, “the holidays are a sign that the year is closing, and a new one is about to begin. That whatever we did this past year which we aren’t proud of, we have a whole new year to make things right. It’s like at the end of each year, we almost die; and when the new year comes, so does our new lease on life.” She sums it up by saying the holidays, for her, mean hope.
Jensen counsels that during the “hustle and bustle that fills the streets” you should take a moment on “a snowy December night and feel the world around you.” She says that you are “suddenly filled with a sense that everything is going to be alright. … Hope, my friends, is all this sad world needs and hope is what the holidays bring.”
David Osborn adds, “Bah Humbug! No, I really am just kidding I love the holidays and spending time with my family. The best part of the holiday season is definitely the music, unless you start playing it the day after Halloween. Have a happy holiday and I hope you have a wonderful and white Christmas, cause it isn’t the same without snow.”
Mae Goss says that coming from a family with seven children, as a kid, they didn’t get many gifts. They were allotted a certain amount of money and they were happy with it. Goss loves the holidays because they make her remember happy days “without the pleasantries of gifts, just the company of each other.” She loves the quote: ‘All hearts come home for the holidays,’ and says for her “it’s so true.”