Halloween is over. Knott’s Scary Farm is long gone. And although I still sense an eerie presence of darkness and decay, I assume that’s just from the sagging pumpkins in my suite as they succumb to the force of gravity.
It’s that confusing time of year when I have no clue what I should be celebrating. My candy supply from trick-or-treating is down to disheartening Whoppers and Smarties (why do people bother to buy those, anyway?), I’ve had an unnerving amount of Pumpkin Spice Lattes and there aren’t any jolly Thanksgiving songs to blast. Clearly, this is God’s way of saying, “It’s Christmastime.” Right?
Now I know the leaves have not changed color yet (do the leaves even change color in Malibu?), it is warm enough to go surfing and Thanksgiving isn’t for a few more weeks, but I guess I just don’t care. As far as I am concerned, if the Brock House sees fit to put up twinkle lights and the HAWC is serving Peppermint Mochas, well, Christmastime is here.
There is no harm in celebrating Christmas before Thanksgiving — it’s just like eating dessert before dinner ( … and then again after dinner). Who wouldn’t want that? And who made the rule that Christmas must be confined between Nov. 29 and Dec. 25? There is no date in the Bible of Jesus’ birth, so for all we know, the actual Christmas could be in March. So just let me listen to my holiday music and put out my Nativity set already.
I used to be one of those puritanical children who did not believe in Christmas until December. Then I would have one month to cram in tree decorating, cookie baking (to be honest, it’s just cookie dough eating), present purchasing, Christmas movie watching, light scouting, candy cane eating, ice skating and the attempt to read the Nativity story at least five times so I wouldn’t lose sight of what is really important (and obviously I would never do that). It was madness, and I was never ready to see the season go.
Now that I begin celebrating four weeks ahead of schedule, I couldn’t be happier when we start to tear down the tree.
There’s another round of midterms coming up, finals after that and a looming 10-page paper that is due in the way-too-near future. I guess one could say I am coping with stress by celebrating prematurely, but really (along with my roommates, by default), I’m simply getting a head start on the holiday season.
I’ve already made a Christmas music playlist on Spotify and an extensive list of gifts to buy my family members. And if you hear Nat King Cole’s Christmas album blasting through campus, there is a large probability that I’m just trying to spread a little pre-Thanksgiving-Christmas cheer. If you don’t like dessert before dinner, or if your name happens to be Scrooge, please email me, and I will show you the true joys of the Christmas pre-season. Until then, Merry Christmas, ya filthy animal.
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As published in the Nov. 14 issue of the Pepperdine Graphic.
