That One Time I Did the Holidays as an Adult

This year, the year 2018, marks my very first holiday season as an official adult. You may ask, what makes this year, above all other years, worthy of such a status? Well, this will be my first holiday season as a college graduate. So, therefore, I take upon myself the duties and privileges of the holiday season as a grown individual. However……these specific “duties” have already begun to take their toll. Exhibit A, B, and C of the holidays as an adult:

h i , a u n t b e r t h a

We all have that one person in the family. You know that person. The person that

everyone knows is just a bit off. That one person that you never particularly want to

engage with in conversation. Maybe you’re lucky and your family has more than one of

those gems in the mix. Nevertheless, one of the greatest, unknown, advantages of being

a child during the holidays is that the responsibility of talking to one such relative does

not belong to you. That’s a parents’ job. As a child, you get the sparks notes version of

that conversation once everyone leaves and the adults debrief their holiday encounters.

But alas, such privilege is fleeting. I now find myself not only expected to have a

conversation with that person, but obligated to look like I'm legitimately interested. So,

cheers to being an adult, and keeping up with social expectations.

t r a v e l i s a m a r a t h o n

Coming from someone who doesn't live anywhere close to home, travel for the holidays

is no joke. Coming from a person who currently doesn't have a car, travel for the holidays is even less of a joke. The first hurdle comes with simply finding a way home (read: coercing my boyfriend to drive me). Then comes trying to find a time to visit that works for everyones schedule (read: trying to complete a nearly impossible task). But once transportation and a tentative schedule finds its way to fruition, you then embark on perhaps the most difficult part of it all: the marathon race of cramming all your visits into the approximate three seconds that you’ll actually be back. Running from one house to another, swapping hats from daughter, to friend, to cousin, to niece, to granddaughter

faster than you have time to fully put it on.

w h e n i s t h e w e d d i n g

Above all else, my favorite part of the holidays is the familial interrogation into my

professional plans and my relationship status. We all have been there. We all have

been barraged with those stereotypical questions . But what I find particularly amusing

about these questions is that people tend to preface them with: “I’m sure you've been

asked this a million times…” or “I used to hate these questions when I was your age.”

Well, as a matter of fact, I have been asked this question 27 times today, and these

questions are just as annoying now as they were 30 years ago when people where

asking them of you. However, I soldier on, one question at a time, justifying it with the

fact that either 1.) they care a whole, awful lot about me or 2.) they have no idea what to

talk to me about, and they're grasping at straws. But I can respect both.

So there it is, some of the most adult holiday duties. But what I have come to find is that each of these points have an equal, if not greater, privilege associated with it. Exhibit A.B, and C:

~ Maybe I don’t particularly love to talking to Aunt Bertha, but how blessed am I that

she feels comfortable enough with me to share her entire life story.

~ Traveling sucks. But how blessed am I to have people that making traveling worth it.

~ Truly my least favorite question is about my impending, non-existent wedding plans.

But how blessed am I to have people that care enough to ask. And how blessed am I

to have a significant other that my family adores, and who adores me.

So, yes, I have found that the holidays as an adult can be a lot of work, but I implore all of you to try to find the privileges in the duties this holiday season. I promise they're there, and I promise they're worth it.