Ah, Christmas. What a wonderful day - no my bad, what a wonderful three month season. The minute the back to school sales end for the year, the Christmas decorations slowly start creeping out onto the store floors. You roll your eyes and think it's only September, what are these doing out already?! but secretly enjoy what is to come.
With each passing month and holiday, Christmas gets closer and closer. Halloween is over, and Christmas lights start to go up. Thanksgiving passes, and in its place the Christmas music appears, immediately followed by Black Friday, which is pretty much "behind-the-scenes Christmas" because everything from Black Friday ends up under that tree anyway.
People have a little extra skip in their step as they rush off to store after store, slowly crossing off their Christmas lists and draining the bank account in the process. Everything takes on a tint of green and red, and people feel a little more generous as they pass the Salvation Army bell-ringer. For the time leading up to Christmas, our world becomes a little bit brighter and our materialism a little bit stronger, but all in good cheer.
And then Christmas arrives. Everyone is happy - gifts are opened, food is eaten, and laughter is exchanged.
And then December 26th arrives, and everything dies.
The radio stations return to their regular genres, the stores discount their Christmas items, and people are grumpy and stressed once again.
How, after months of anticipation leading up to a single holiday, is it possible to drop the spirit right away? For students, the real joy of Christmas is being able to take a month off of school and relax.. which comes after the holiday. That is when we would be able to really enjoy excessive carols and cookies and cheer.
Christmas celebration should extend until at least New Year's Eve. We should enjoy an extra few days of everyone being happy before the credit card bills come in and you realize that you went way too overboard this year.
I'll be playing my Christmas songs and wearing my ugly sweaters well into the new year, and I invite you to join me.
