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Day 6 of 12 Days of Christmas: The Worst Parts of the Holiday

Christmas is every child’s favorite holiday of the year, yet the “inner Grinch” emerges from every adult. The snow piles up, and it never leaves. From Black Friday to Christmas, every weekend is spent shopping for the perfect gift.

From November to February, the snow seems to never melt. You wake up one morning and finally see a small patch of grass, only for it to blizzard in the afternoon.

In New England, the snow seems to be almost every person’s worst nightmare. Shoveling snow is difficult and tiring for all. A whole day goes to waste spent shoveling the heavy, stubborn snow.

Jessica D’Aniello has lived in New England her entire life and has witnessed countless amounts of snow storms.

“I have to shovel the snow and I really hate it,” said D’Anielo. “I just don’t like the snow or the cold season.”

Some are lucky and get to escape to the tropical beaches of Florida. Thousands of people travel as far from New England as possible, purely because they hate the snow and cold weather.

As written in The Palm Beach Post, “…we absorb an estimated 900,000 to a million seasonal residents who stay a month or more every winter, raising our state’s population by about 5 percent. That figure doesn’t include tourists.”

As the snow falls, drivers tend to slow down to avoid accidents. You find yourself yelling at the cars in front of you to speed up. A fifteen minute car ride turns into thirty minutes because of the falling snow.

Once you make it to the mall, you face the endless struggle of finding a parking spot – a battle occurs between drivers to steal the one open spot. Minutes feel like hours as you drive through rows upon rows in the parking lot.

When you surpass the chaos of the parking lot and finally enter the mall, there are people everywhere. It feels like you’re packed in a can of sardines with all these people trying to get their last minute holiday shopping in.

You spend large amounts of time walking from store to store in search of the perfect gift for your friends and family. It is nearly impossible to find a gift that will please everyone on your list.

Anna Muharem, mother of three teenage girls, says that the worst thing about Christmas is the shopping.

“The list of things that people want adds up so quickly and it’s so expensive,” said Muharem. “Sometimes my kids will just go through catalogs and circle stuff just because it looks good, and not because they actually need it.”

Once December 25 hits, you may think that the holidays are finally over, but they never seem to come to an end. You watch your kids open gifts from their relatives and they put a fake smile on their faces. Once you get home, they ask you to return it.

As written in The New Republic magazine, “According to New York department stores, each year about 15 percent of all retail dollar purchases at Christmas are returned.”

You find yourself back in the crowded malls, waiting in lines to return those gifts. For those that are too lazy to go to the mall, those gifts sit in the corner of your house for months and are never touched again.

Although it tends to be a great struggle for all, try to shop smart, drive safe and stay grateful this holiday season.

Madison Piscitelli

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