Spreading Good Cheer: 6 Reasons Why the Holiday Season Deserves More than 25 Days

We’re all familiar with the classic debate about whether or not it is acceptable to start getting in the Christmas spirit before Thanksgiving has even happened.

Don’t get me wrong– Thanksgiving is a wonderful holiday, deserving of its own recognition (partially because of the amazing layout of never-ending food).

I also have come to the conclusion that the Christmas season deserves much more than just 25 days of celebration. So, here are six reasons why the holiday season should be celebrated immediately after Halloween:

1. There are no Thanksgiving songs.

This makes it increasingly difficult to stay jolly when you get to that point in the semester where you just want to die because of the incessant amount of assignments, impending exams, and frightening finals quickly approaching. Celebrating the upcoming festivities and having something to look forward to is one way that I am able to keep my spirits up. Listening to this Holiday Music playlist gets me through my dreary and long days of studying.

2. You can be excited for more than one thing at a time!

Celebrating Christmas now doesn’t mean that Thanksgiving is irrelevant. It’s actually quite the opposite. The meaning of Thanksgiving is giving thanks for those that you love and care about. The Christmas holiday has many of the same meanings and practices. Just like Thanksgiving, the meaning of the holiday season is to be thankful for the things you have, and give gifts to the important people in your life. To take away the excitement and merriment that the holiday season brings myself and my fellow holiday pioneers is to take away our very spirit!

3. Decorating is a lot more fun and easy.

There’s not a whole lot you can do other than buy some leaves and banners. But, holiday decorations are boundless. I mean, who doesn’t love decorating? I know I had the best looking dorm room for Halloween and it made me feel like I was really Queen B–even if I was extremely extra. I invite you all to embrace that extra-ness. The folks on my floor don’t even want to know what I have cooked up for Christmas. It’s going to be extraordinarily miraculous.

4. It’s simply magical.

It’s the only time of the year that cheer is relentlessly spread and meaningful memories are undoubtedly created because of the amazing traditions that come along with it. I look out the window right now at the Iowa River and I see college students running around, looking lifeless. Their downcast expressions can’t help but make me reflect back on what my town looks like during the holiday season. Everyone’s full of life, probably due to the excessive family bonding, spreading of love and cheer, and general niceness. The faint singing I hear fills me with enduring hope for all that is good in the world.

5. You see everything in a new light and life seems a whole lot brighter.

The hot cocoa warms up my heart that has been frozen over by a semester that has virtually sucked the life out of me. When I walk the streets of my neighborhood, I see the beautiful, vibrant Christmas lights that light up my world, the wonderful Dreidel that spins itself into my soul, the lingering sound of chiming bells ringing in my ears, and so on. The snow that fills up the dull sidewalks brings about a new purity to the world that always pleasantly surprises me, egging me on to roll around and create the angel I’ve so dearly needed lately.

6. The world needs some relief from all of the terrifying and depressing things that have happened recently and the holiday season can give you that.

Every time I turn on the news or get a post notification from MSNBC News, it’s usually something that makes me disgusted with this world (isn’t it lovely how the media has made it a nasty habit of theirs to usually present and exploit bad happenings or events). But, the holiday season gives you a re-instilled hope that there are still good and it restores the humanity of the world. That is something I want to capitalize on for the longest amount of time, as I can imagine you do too.

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Celebrating the Christmas season does not mean that I don’t appreciate the wonderful values of Thanksgiving. It just means that I, among others, need more than just 25 days of holiday season celebration.

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