Everybody celebrates Christmas, right? Well for me and my family, Christmas is one of the holidays that we celebrate most. My family all comes together to celebrate and open presents after eating. We love spending time together, but most of the time, we can’t all be together because we all live in different places—so we never see the full family until they come down for the holidays.

For me, when it comes to Christmas, I’m always at different houses. I will go to my cousin’s house on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. Also, on Christmas Day, I’ll be at my grandparents’  house. I’ll go to my best friend’s  house for Christmas, too, because that’s my second family and they treat me as such.

During Christmas, I really don’t care about the presents. I only want to be with my family and my friends. Presents, in my eyes, come last: my family and friends are more important to me than any gifts. I love being with my loved ones during the holidays—and every day of the week. I just love my family more than anything on Earth; they’re literally my whole world. 

But this Christmas will be different without my older brother. I don’t get to see him, nor hug him. I’ll just have to just have a white Christmas without him. He was always my chauffeur for the holidays.   

This Christmas, I won’t get to see my brother because he’s in London, England in the Air Force. I will miss him a lot because we can’t do matching pajamas this year together. I just miss him so much and want to see him for the holidays, but I can’t. I hope he can come next Christmas so I can see him and wear matching pajamas like we do every year.

This year, I’m going to have a good Christmas without my brother. I’m still with family and friends and get to be with them the whole day. I still get my presents and get to eat like every year. I miss him, but he’s doing good things right now in London. The whole family wishes he could be here for Christmas, too. 

The New Year is going to be different, too, because I can’t watch the countdown with him. But I’ll watch it with the rest of the family instead of him. Christmas and New Years are going to feel different without him being here. He always knows how to make us smile and laugh during the holidays.