Holidays are important

Published in Culture on Dec 17, 2020

Everyone knows the feeling, it's the beggining of June and the heats starting to pound down on you. You've done most of what you've wanted to for the Summer, and you're starting to feel like each day rolls into the next with no relent. Then you have a slight rememberance of "Oh, July is coming up! I wonder what my peers are doing for that, perhaps my family?"

It's happened to me many times, and it drags me out of the monotonous cycle of life, and puts a spotlight on an upcoming date. That date is more important than the day before and the day after, that date has the concept of anticipation attached to it. It's not the holiday you're excited about, but more likely the thought of the holidays gathering & the break from the cycle, if only for a moment. It feels freeing and it is! After all, we get to nationally celebrate days like this. Fireworks shoot up into the air, fireflies are around, and the chirping of crickets can be heard if you're anywhere in a park.

You're surrounded with people you care about, perhaps doing a grill out or a barbeque, your uncle may have had too much to drink again but that's all part of the enjoyment.

This moment is freeing, this moment is relaxing, you're able to feel like you've got control in the chaos, if just for a few seconds.

Then BAM! You're right back on the treadmill, trying to get caught up on work and frantically wondering if you maybe did leave the cake pan at your aunts when you were there.

But those moments before getting on the treadmill feel infinitely shorter than the rest of the year, but yet you remember them much more clearly than you remember coming to work everyday at 7 am. You feel like the weeks just flowed together before, but now your charisma is back, you feel inclined to maybe even pick up a new hobby or try something additional within one you've been participating in.

That's the magic of the holidays to me, and it's something I deem worth protecting. That slight freedom that comes with it, and the enjoyment for just a moment I can pretend that I have control over the chaos that is my life.

Federal Holidays

  • New Years Day
    • January 1
     
  • Martin Luther King Jr. Day
    • January 15-21 (floating Monday)
     
  • Washington's Birthday
    • February 15-21 (floating Monday)
     
  • Memorial Day
    • May 25-31 (floating Monday)
     
  • Independence Day
    • July 4
     
  • Labor Day
    • September 1-7 (floating Monday)
     
  • Columbus Day
    • October 8-14 (floating Monday)
     
  • Veterans Day
    • November 11
     
  • Thanksgiving Day
    • November 22-28 (floating Thursday)
     
  • Christmas Day
    • December 25