@connectedtoeachother
This was not a conversation they thought they’d ever be having. After all, what kind of person didn’t know what Christmas was? Even those who didn’t celebrate the holiday knew what it was. Or, at least, that was the case with most people. But Angelica wasn’t like most people, was she? She had grown up sheltered. No, not just sheltered... disconnected. They had purposely made a point of keeping her apart from some of the most human aspects of life aside from just surviving to live another day of experimentation.
There were so many pretty lights hung up in the small town nearby, it was clear that there was a celebration of some sort. And, of course, such a thing had prompted a question of “why” from Angelica. Now it was up to her (just slightly older) counterparts to try to explain. Should they explain it from a religious perspective? Neither of them were much for religion, after all. But it played a roll in the holiday. Should they discuss the ideal sort of holiday celebration? Seunghyun had lived through only a few mostly ideal Christmases. Sooyeon as well. Neither remembered them clearly, but they remembered the way it was supposed to be. Without drunken parents, without shouting and being cast aside. With gifts and warm food and laughter bubbling.
Sooyeon looked to Seunghyun, Angelica watching them both curiously. Sooyeon and Seunghyun did this often. Silent conversations when trying to think of the best way to explain something to their less informed friend. It often surprised them to discover how little Angelica had been told.
“People decorate a lot for important holidays. Remember Halloween? When everyone had scary decorations up because it’s supposed to fun? Well Christmas is totally opposite of that.” Okay, so it was much harder for a teenager Sooyeon’s age to explain holidays than she’d thought it would be, “Um... it’s supposed to be, like, really happy and exciting and everyone is supposed to be nice to especially nice to each other around this time. So people decorate things to be bright and colorful and pretty.” Wow, now that she thought about it, why did people decorate for the holidays? It didn’t make sense. She pondered it for only a second before Seunghyun took over in her absence.
“Christmas is a religious holiday centered around the birth of a religious figure, Jesus.” He explained, trying to summarize it as condensed a manner as possible, “It’s celebrated by spending time with family and exchanging gifts. And young children are led to believe that their gifts are left by some kind, old, man who magically leaves them under their Christmas tree on the night of December 24th for them to open in the morning on December 25th.” A bit of a jumble, probably, but that was the best he could do under such short notice. And no one had explained the Christmas tree yet...
