I don’ t know what it is about Christmas. Everything’s unnaturally good.
For example: If I had eggnog today it wouldn’t taste half as good as it does when it’s Christmas. And eating coffee cake is just eating coffee cake — except when I’m eating coffee cake and opening presents. Then it’s Christmas.
One of my favorite things about the weeks around Christmas and Christmas Day is shopping for food and searching for the present that will make people the happiest.
I like running around the food aisles and dodging people getting the stuff my dad asks me to get and thinking about all the good food I’m going to have. Most people have a set Christmas meal. But my family just gets what looks like it will be the most enjoyable. Last year we had Thai-style green curry with crab and shrimp because our friend, Pam, and my brother, Morgan, were here, and they don’t eat meat.
Searching for the perfect gift includes figuring out what piece of jewelry my mom would like most. What to get my dad is always a puzzle to me. But the perfect thing always pops up at the right time.
The most wonderful part of Christmas is setting up the Christmas tree and admiring the ornaments while listening to Christmas carols. I love listening to the quiet, calming music while putting ornaments in exactly the right spot and putting on the star. I feel warmly comforted by the carols and the low light.
I enjoy bundling up on Christmas Eve to walk on Canyon Road because it’s fun trying to figure out how cold it is outside, and what I should wear. I’m amazed at the beauty of the farolitos’ patterns. The hot cider perfectly warms your insides, but the bonfires make it feel like your skin has been fried to a crisp. It’s fantastic when I see the flying farolito. It looks like a glowing dome in the sky.
As soon as I fall asleep after Canyon Road, I fall into the deepest sleep of the year. It’s almost a magical sleep. I close my eyes, and then open them and it’s Christmas morning.
Quickly after waking up, I wake my parents and wait only a few minutes to start opening presents and eating coffee cake. Guessing who gave which present to whom and seeing the happiness on everyone’s faces makes me feel really good. After all the presents have been opened, my dad and I start preparing Christmas dinner and my mom makes Christmas scones.
I thought the only problem with Christmas was doing the dishes until my mom said that it reminds her what day it is and gives her a lot of satisfaction when she’s done.
Christmas is just perfect.
Alec James Lynch, 11, is a fifth-grader at Eldorado Elementary School. 
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