By the time I was a teenager, Christmas had changed for me. The season had grown beyond the childhood countdown to Santa and Christmas morning. There were friends to see, places to go, and new things to look forward to. But underneath all of that, the Christmas spirit I had grown up with was still there.
If anything, I was beginning to understand it a little better. Christmas was becoming more about the people I wanted to spend it with. My world was getting bigger, and somehow our family Christmas was making room for that, too.
Christmas at the Mall
Going to the mall with my classmates became part of the fun of the season. We were old enough to enjoy being out together, but there was still something about Christmas that brought out the children in us.
And yes, we still sat on Santaâs lap.
Being a teenager didnât mean we had to leave every bit of that behind. We could laugh about it and enjoy it at the same time. Looking back, I love that we still wanted to take part. A visit with Santa could be fun with your friends even when it meant something different from the way it had when you were little.
Those mall trips belonged to a new chapter of Christmas for me. The decorations were familiar. Santa was familiar. This time, I was sharing the experience with classmates as well as family.
High School Christmas Dances
The high school Christmas dances gave us something else to anticipate. Christmas wasnât only happening at home anymore. It was part of our school life and our friendships, too.
I remember the excitement of having somewhere to go and people to be with. As a teenager, those occasions felt important in their own right. They became part of the seasonâs memories, alongside traditions that had been with me for years.
There was room for both: the new experiences we were making with friends and the family celebrations we wouldnât have wanted to miss.
The Christmas Eve Everyone Looked Forward To
For all the things I enjoyed doing with my friends, Christmas Eve with my Italian family was something I especially looked forward to. Our familyâs celebration was the place to be.
The Feast of the Seven Fishes was at the heart of our Christmas Eve dinner. I remember looking forward to the meal, but the gathering mattered just as much. We were there with aunts, uncles, and cousins, sharing an evening that belonged to our family.
As a child, so much of my excitement had been about what was going to happen next. As a teenager, I was getting better at enjoying what was happening right in front of me: dinner together, familiar company, and a whole evening still ahead of us.
I didnât think of it as a lesson then. It was simply our Christmas Eve. Only later did I understand how much those evenings would mean to me.
Gifts Tonightâand Santa Tomorrow
After dinner, we opened gifts among our aunts, uncles, and cousins. That was its own celebration, with everyone together to share it.
But Christmas Eve presents didnât replace Christmas morning. We still waited until the next day to open the gifts from Santa. Some traditions stayed right where they belonged, no matter how much older we were getting.
I like that about the memory. We were teenagers, enjoying a new kind of independence, yet Christmas morning still held its place. We didnât have to choose between growing up and keeping the parts of Christmas we loved.
The photograph here brings that time back to me. The fireplace, the stockings, the tree, and the gifts all belong to a family Christmas I can still feel when I look at it. They were the surroundings of an ordinary holiday moment then. Now, they are details Iâm grateful someone photographed.
Carols, Cookies, and Friends at the Door
Opening gifts wasnât the end of the evening. Afterward, we sang Christmas carols, ate homemade Christmas cookies, and enjoyed each otherâs company.
There was no need to hurry on to the next event. Being together was the event.
My high school friends would come over after dinner because they knew our Christmas Eve celebrations were the place to be. That is one of the parts I remember most fondly: my school friendships and my family life coming together in the same celebration.
The friends I spent time with at the mall and at school could become part of the evening with my aunts, uncles, and cousins. Christmas at our house wasnât something I needed to leave behind to enjoy being a teenager. It was something I wanted my friends to share.
Looking back, their wanting to be there says a great deal about what those evenings felt like. The food and cookies were part of it. So were the carols and presents. But at the center was the pleasure of being welcomed and having people around you.
What Changedâand What Stayed
My teenage Christmases were different from the Christmases of my early childhood. The season had dances and classmates, mall trips and evenings with friends. The excitement was changing, but the feeling at the center of it wasnât.
It was still family. It was still generosity, welcome, and making time for one another. The traditions I had grown up with were becoming things I valued for myself, rather than simply things the adults arranged around me.
Even now, those memories run deep. I think about the Feast of the Seven Fishes, gifts with my cousins, homemade cookies, Christmas carols, and friends coming over because our house was where they wanted to be.
Those evenings are part of what drives my love of the holidays today. Iâm older, but I still carry the feeling of that Christmas Eve gathering with me. The season changed as I grew up. At its core, the Christmas spirit never did.
Read the earlier chapter: When Santa Arrived, Christmas Began.
