I don’t know about you dear reader, but as the semester is wrapping up and the year is coming to an end, I have been reflecting on how I spend my time.
Do I spend it prudently, and create a balance of work and rest for myself? Or do I spend it poorly, and let the days pass by without a care? Time is so precious, and there is only so much that we have. We cannot change how the past has gone, and so this leaves the question: how will we continue to spend our time?
As we enter this season of endings, many of us spend our time celebrating the holidays. Magdalena Fait, sophomore psychology major, spends her time during winter break celebrating Christmas with her family.
As an international student from Poland, she shared how special Christmas is in her country, especially Christmas Eve. On the eve before Christmas Day, Magdalena and her family partake in many common Polish traditions.
On Christmas Eve, the whole family goes out on a walk before dinner to find the first star of the night sky. This serves as an acknowledgment of the wisemen who followed the star to Jesus, and it serves as a way to remember the purpose of the season.
Once her family returns home, they enjoy their dinner while leaving an empty plate and seat at the table for a stranger. “Because no one should be alone that day. Everyone deserves to be loved and feel the love,” said Magdalena. She continued, “When I was a child, that was the most exciting thing that I would dream about; that someone from my city would come to my house and say, ‘Can I eat dinner with you?’”
In the days before Christmas Eve, she, like every member of her family, would go to the church nearby to ask the priest for a wafer called an oplatek. This wafer is square-shaped and typically has Christmas imagery etched onto it. Once Christmas Eve arrives, her family takes turns exchanging pieces of their wafers with each member of her family.
During these exchanges, it is an opportunity for a deep conversation between loved ones. They speak of their wishes for the new year and tell each other “I love you.” Words of affirmation aren’t typically said on a daily basis in Poland according to Magdalena, and so she said, “that’s always the moment when your parents look into your eyes and say ‘I’m proud of you. I love you.’”
In spending our time with family through our own traditions, let them serve as a reminder that how we spend our time is how we spend our love. After a year of hard work and anxieties, let this break remind you of why you do it: why you love.
My hope then, dear reader, is that during the upcoming break and holidays we all remember what and whom it is that we love.