The Unexpected Christmas Gift

It’s the most wonderful time of the year: decorating the tree, baking cookies and simply getting into the Christmas spirit. And what better way to say it than will a dumping of essays, tests, assignments, and the like? Before you misconstrue my words to their literal meaning, I suggest it only sarcastically. This trend I am noting among senior high school teachers is bogging down my Christmas spirit to the point where I am actually dreading Christmas and the heap of papers and books congregating on my desk.  Whether teachers are taking pleasure in our pain or feeling deep remorse for depriving us of our holidays, I will not be the judge (I would rather hope it is the latter).

I tread cautiously upon a tightrope, balancing schoolwork with Christmas preparations. Focused I try to stay on my papers and studying, until the prospect of decorating gingerbread men or playing Christmas carols on the piano pops into my head. A much more appealing option, indeed. One batch of cookies and many songs later, studying for that unit test, once top of my priority list, just got demoted. Somehow, I cast my procrastinations aside and subject myself to many uninterrupted hours of homework seclusion. But the idea of less free time over the holidays continues to irk me.

How I yearn for those blissful grade nine days, where, naïve as any niner, I was blissfully unaware of the torment to come and my time was preoccupied with things of no relation to mathematical equations and thoroughly-researched social science papers. If I could only return to those days…or on second thought, perhaps not. I’ve come so far and will persist to strive to reach the light at the end of the tunnel.

So ‘bah humbug’, maybe, but I remain optimistic that the magic of Christmas will overshadow the drudgery of schoolwork. Merry Christmas to you and may your holidays be free from academic imprisonment.