049/365
December 24, 2015
Tenants Harbor, ME, USA
Christmas in the United States feels very different. I had the impression that it's a little more similar to Germany than Ireland, but it's really not. What stands out to me most is that a lot of people don't get much time off work. Many people work on the 24th of December, have the 25th off and then go back to work on the 26th. Most people I knew growing up were off work for the whole last week of the year.
It's so interesting how deeply ingrained these things are. I always get all nostalgic on the 24th of December and think about how Christmas felt growing up and how all the kids waited all day for Santa Claus to come in the evening. How my grandparents would lock the living room door in expectation of his arrival and how the candles lit our house when it got dark. I miss my grandma so much when I think back. I wish I could meet her just one more time and introduce her to my family. I wonder if she would like my pictures.