#Middlebury
By BRIDGET HENRY
Christmas was an incredibly magical time in my home. My parents, particularly my mom, went above and beyond to create what I believed to be the best holiday traditions. The entire month of December felt like a party from start to finish. And while the weeks before Christmas, heavy with intense anticipation, seemed to drag on forever, the holiday season always seemed to come and go in a flash.
One year while frosting Christmas cookies, I very vividly remember talking to my mom about how excited I was for my older brothers and sister to get home from college. I just could not wait for Christmas to come. She told me about a quote her father once taught her, “Sometimes anticipation is better than the realization.”
I was young and didn’t totally understand what the words meant so my mom tried to explain. She told me I should always try to enjoy the days of waiting as much as I hoped to enjoy the actual days of Christmas. She went on to explain that sometimes it was just as fun and exciting to anticipate the coming days, in hopes that the realization would be as great as the expectation.
At that age, I could not imagine Christmas falling short of my expectations. Christmas was always so much fun and Santa always brought such great stuff. It never occurred to me that the Christmas holiday would or could ever disappoint.
The following year, about three weeks before Christmas, one of my brothers called me upstairs. I ran upstairs and was astonished to find my brother standing in my mother’s room. (No one went in mom’s room. My brother clearly had a death wish.) I stood frozen at the door.
My brother lifted the dust ruffle to my mother’s bed and pointed to a giant box. Then he said quickly, “That is what we are getting for Christmas and there is no Santa.” He dropped the dust ruffle and walked out of the room.
All at once I was devastated and excited. I was pretty sure my brother had just said there was no Santa. Was that true? But I also knew I had just seen an Atari game system under that bed. Was that also true? Was that what we were getting for Christmas? Expectation and realization were having quite a moment.
Thankfully the moment was fleeting. I was certainly not dumb enough to believe my older brother, especially one stupid enough to mess with my mother’s bed. I had faith in the magic in Christmas and knew it would work itself out. I kept things to myself and decided to wait and see what happened on Christmas Eve. That year, the expectations were incredibly serious.
Christmas finally came. And thankfully so did Santa. I know this because I personally heard him on the roof that night. As for the Atari? It showed up on Christmas day as a gift from my grandparents who had sent it from Michigan. I was relieved. Yet another year where realization was even better than expectation.
Happy Holidays Middlebury! May your realizations always surpass your expectations. And as always, I am happy to be Somewhere in the Middle (of keeping the faith) with all of you.
