With Christmas quickly approaching, I am happy to once again feel the holiday cheer. But one area where the holiday spirit is startlingly absent is my home.

Growing up in a Chinese family, I never experienced much of the "traditional" Christmas festivities because there is not a traditional Chinese holiday that takes place around Christmas time. I don't even think my family bought Christmas trees until a few years ago.

Of course, we still adopted some Christmas-y things like buying presents and listening to Christmas music. But even this feels different than what I picture the ideal Christmas to be.

For one thing, I always knew what presents I was getting because I bought them with my mom. Many of my friends did not know what they were getting from their parents and were always surprised on Christmas Day when they got exactly what they wanted. But I never felt that sense of excitement.

Our Christmas decorations are also not quite the way I imagine them. This is largely because we don't really change anything besides hang a few ornaments. When I’m driving in my neighborhood and I see someone's giant lit-up reindeer or a house laced with multicolored lights, I stare in amazement at the beauty and the effort that must have gone into putting up those lights.

Still, Christmas has been a welcome addition to my family. There is an undeniable feeling of cheeriness wherever I go, and sometimes I even get to make new "Christmas food." And of course, there are the presents.