The season changes as you do, and I don’t think that’s a bad thing

I’ve been thinking a lot recently about how Christmas used to look…

And how it looks now.

Not in a dramatic, “everything was better back then” way. More in a quietly observant, slightly nostalgic one.

Christmas Eve used to mean the pub. Always the pub. Catching up with old school friends, staying out far too late, and then waking up on Christmas Day feeling absolutely brutal.

The first part of the day would be spent at my parents’ house, followed by a visit to what I call my second family. They live directly behind my parents, so you quite literally jump the fence to get there. That routine stayed pretty consistent for years.

These days, it’s different. Christmas Eve is now spent with my partner’s close friends because one of them has a birthday on Christmas Eve (which is a bold move, if you ask me!)

Christmas Day starts at her parents’, then we head over to mine, and from there I still make the trip to see my second family.

I’m not sure I can pinpoint which version of Christmas I prefer. They’re just… different.

I’m at a stage of life now where I don’t really care about receiving presents, and I don’t feel a huge pull to give them either. That will probably change again as more of my friends and family have kids. Suddenly there’ll be more excitement, more wrapping paper, and a lot more shopping involved.

And if I have kids of my own, I’m sure the whole thing will be reignited completely. Christmas has a habit of coming back around when there’s someone new to impress.

What I do enjoy now is the slower pace. Having spent over 12 years working in retail, Christmas used to come with a very specific kind of stress. That manic, relentless period after Christmas where everything just goes absolutely mental.

I don’t miss that at all!

There’s something genuinely nice about being able to slow down at what is considered a fast-paced time of year. Even if it’s in a quieter, less “sparkly” way than before.

So maybe Christmas hasn’t lost its magic, it’s just changed shape.

It was exciting in one way before, and it’ll be exciting again in a different way later on. Right now, it’s somewhere in the middle. And honestly? I’m quite happy with that.