When asked what someones favorite season is, most people automatically think of Spring, Summer, Fall, or Winter. If I really had to think about it, I would have to say that my favorite season is the Holiday Season.
Everyone has a different version of what the holiday season covers. Some people consider it just the month of December, leading up to Christmas. Others include November because of Thanksgiving. I like to include when people start to get excited about Halloween all the way through to the new year.
For me, the holiday season is not my favorite because of the candy, the costumes, the food, the decorations, or the gifts. It's because people become more spirited, lively, and giving. I feel like people are more willing to go out of their comfort zone to try new things and talk to or be kind to a stranger. I feel like people are genuinely more excited to participate in the activities at hand.
When early to mid-October hits, the feeling of Halloween is in full swing. Horror movies are on television regularly. Wal-mart, Target, K-mart and almost every other store has a Halloween section. Chatter amongst my friends, as well as others, has already begun about what are WE dressing up as for Halloween. The idea of a group costume is always a fun idea, my group-chat blows up at least a few times a week with ideas that we could do and how much fun it would be.
The bonding over what we like and don't like (i.e. I hate Charlie Brown, one of my friends has never seen Dodgeball) brings us closer, even though we didn't think that was possible. The group costume usually falls through, but it is the fun of it that matters. When Halloween night actually comes, there are always girls coming up to girls they have never met, saying how cute their costumes are or how clever it was. There are boys that do the funniest, most creative things. It is an easy way for a girl to go up to the boy they know in class but didn't know how to start a conversation with outside of class. The next day, everyone has new friends that they can talk to and possibly even hang out with.
Thanksgiving, my favorite holiday, starts the chapter in the holiday season where everyone steps back and looks at the bigger picture. For those of us in school, we begin to realize how grateful we should be that we have the opportunity to be able to achieve this level of education we have and thank those that have helped get this far. It is usually the time of the year where classes begin picking up, wrapping up and getting ready for finals. We have enormous amounts of stress. If anything, that makes us more thankful for the things and people that we have in our lives.
Lately, I have heard several people talking about "friends-givings", which is a small, pot-luck type Thanksgiving dinner put together by a group of friends. These are becoming more popular than ever because it is just as important to celebrate with your friends, the people who hold your hand through your heartaches and celebrate your successes with you, your family away from home, as it is to with your biological family. Friends-giving allows you the opportunity to express how grateful you really are for these people in your life. By the time real Thanksgiving rolls around, giving and gratitude is second nature. It is finally time to rejoice with those you are closest with and remember how lucky we truly are, while enjoying some delicious food.
Personally, Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday because it lets me take a step back from all the stress that has been building up and bond with my family over cooking, laughter, football, and catching up over what has happened over the last 6 months.
As soon as Thanksgiving is over, it seems like everyone is in the Christmas mood, including me. Christmas is more than just presents and Santa Claus. For me, it has a lot of the same principles as Thanksgiving: gratitude, family, friends, and being home. Christmas brings the same feeling of gratitude and thankfulness. It is generally a time to where we're thankful to be alive and happy to with each other! Our families generally come together from all parts of the country or even from overseas, if money allows. It is a time to spend with friends from home that you have not seen in a long time because college takes us all on different paths.
There is also a religious aspect to Christmas that makes it extraordinary. There is something special about having the whole family together and going to a church service, witnessing an act of God all together. Besides, the religious aspect of Christmas, people of all faiths are jolly because many of their holidays fall during the same months as Christmas. Everyone seems to have an elated sense of self. If someone is not in that mood, it eventually rubs off. Christmas cheer can be shared amongst families by having a simple conversations around hot chocolate, or eggnog, around a fire, or decorating a tree, playing board games, watching typical Christmas movies like A Christmas Story, Elf, or A Wonderful Life, or any other family traditions.
Finally, New Years Eve is upon us. The week leading up to New Years is a time of reflection. Most of us look back at the year we just experienced and relive the highs and lows. Sometimes, we might dwell on the lows and pity our selves for a little bit, but then we move on to the highs. We realize how much we accomplished, we loved and were loved. We relive the hilarious nights we had with our friends, the ones that left our stomachs in stitches and our eyes in tears. We relive the calls to our parents when we needed that little extra push. Maybe this year wasn't so bad after all.
Maybe, just maybe, it was a pretty good year, despite all the hard times. We look to the next year with hopeful eyes, expecting that as we age, we grow wiser. We hope that we don't make the same mistakes we did last year. New Years Eve is a time to celebrate the last 365 days with a bang and put the past behind us!
The holiday season is about more that the glitter, presents, turkey, and pumpkins. It's about the hope of the future, new and old friends, the hopeful attitudes, family, and overall positivity. Here's to the rest of the holiday season; let's make it a wonderful one!
