Home for the holidays

By Maggie Beidelman

Dear Mom and Dad,

Christmas was great this year. It's been four years, and still every time I come home for the holidays, you think I'm a high school student.

It's not that I don't want to go to bed at 10:30 p.m. like you do. It's that I'm physically incapable of doing so.

Don't take offense if I do my own grocery shopping, Mom. I still appreciate you, but my digestive system has been conditioned to prefer hummus and pita bread over your wonderfully mayonnaised tuna casserole.

I am glad that you care about my safety when you wait up for me to come home after a night out with my friends, really. What I just can't wrap my head around is how you got by when I was abroad for four months of serious studies and occasional late nights at those art galleries I told you about -- did you get any sleep at all?

I feel like we really connected while playing the new Wii we got you for Christmas, Dad, although you did do everything in your power to demolish me at bowling. Even if you lose one game, I'll still be your little girl, don't worry.

Thank you, Mom, for complimenting me on my "new style." Yes, I do brush my hair and no, I don't need to wear a necklace with every outfit -- no matter how well it matches.

I had a great time visiting Grandpa for his birthday, too. Perhaps next year, we could plan on leaving a day later, and not on a 7 a.m. flight, so we don't have to spend New Year's Eve in bed before 10 p.m., trying to fall asleep under the thin sheets at the Ramada Inn while listening to the unique soundtrack of Mom's snoring in the only town in California where flannel and fleece vests are fashion staples? Just a suggestion.

Did you really have to get the fake Christmas tree this year? I know it's easier to take care of, but what didn't you like about the smell of nature wafting from the pine needles which blanketed our living room floor?

I graduate college in three months, Mom and Dad. In less than 100 days, your 21-year-old will have a diploma to her name -- something no high school student can boast about.

At that point in time, I'm sure that with the responsibility of real life looming over my shoulders, I will wish that I was still in high school.

So, for now, when I come home for the holidays, please appreciate my challenged displays of independence.

Just remember: Without you two, I never would have made it this far.

I'll admit, without your constant reminders, I'd forget that in this new year with an unforeseeable future, I always have family to rely on.