Exploring the ex-mas sex

(Graphic by Lena Yang)
(Graphic by Lena Yang)

“I knew what was going to happen but at the same time it was surprisingly nerve racking.” This retrospective statement was said by third year communications student John Forest*, while reflecting on Christmas break last year. However, he wasn’t referring to his gift giving predicaments or family reunion anticipations; he was discussing something a little more intimate.

Mistletoe or not, something about the Christmas season brings out the promiscuity in everyone. This unchaste attitude doesn’t help when students head back to their hometowns and reunite with their high school sweethearts or their most recent ex-boyfriends or girlfriends. The drinks start flowing, conversations get rolling, memories rapidly return and before you know it you’re doing a little more than reminiscing with your ex-boyfriend or girlfriend.

Hooking up with an ex over the holidays is basically a winter tradition. When two exes come home for Christmas break, they decide to have a holiday hook-up. Forest, who indulged in the Ex for Sex Christmas Syndrome last year, claims it’s an easy trap to fall into.

“We both got home and got to chatting pretty randomly and one thing led to another,” Forest shared. There are a few reasons as to why the Christmas hook-up happens. It might be because of rekindled feelings, intoxicated decision making or, in Forest’s case, it was because of the sheer convenience.

“She knew I wanted it and I knew she wanted it, so we just reacted,” Forest said. No matter what the reasoning behind it, there are some serious pros and unfortunate cons that come with using the ex for sex during the Christmas holidays.

Pros
Things with your ex are completely familiar. Hooking up with someone new at your school takes a ton of effort.

From introducing yourself, to worrying about if you’re talking too much, and if you’re coming across smoothly, to eventually finding a nimble exit if he or she is into something super freaky, it is just hard to get comfortable and make an effort meeting new people.

However, with your ex, you’re in familiar territory. You know what they like and essentially what they are intimately all about. There may not be the thrill of meeting someone new, but odds are, you will still have a pretty satisfying time. Plus, what else are you going to do? Sitting around at your parents’ house and watching re-runs of Elf can get boring real fast. You might as well quench that reoccurring high school thirst.

Cons
As Forest puts it, “they are exes for a reason.”

You could very easily wind up arguing about something that happened over two years ago as if it happened the other day. Therefore, instead of having a steamy hook up, the night comes to a disappointing close with hurt feelings and a serious holiday damper. Besides, it can be a bad idea to hook up with your ex if one of you still has feelings for the other.
This is when what you thought was a  harmless holiday fling turns into an angry and emotionally-charged debacle via texts messages and eggnog-induced phone calls late at night. Chances are, you don’t want that needless drama this holiday season.

Any way you slice the situation, hooking up with an ex over the holiday break can both help and hinder. Exes can be trickier to deal with than when you were actually dating them. “I don’t think I would do it again because it was even harder than before to move forward,” Forest warned.

Instead, try your luck with the girl or guy from high school you always had a big crush on but were too shy to even say hi to. Who knows, you may even catch this person under the mistletoe and start a romance that lasts a lifetime. Why not give it a shot?

*Name has been changed for privacy purposes

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