Despite opinions opposing celebrating Christmas before Thanksgiving, students have started their holiday season festivities on campus.
By Mia Kelley
When do you get out your Christmas tree? Your ornaments, garlands, lights or elves? It seems like it gets earlier every year, inching behind Thanksgiving Day, even closer to Halloween.
On social media, there is a strong opinion pitted against the early celebration of holidays, specifically Christmas, arguing that the quick gratification supported by consumer culture promotes these sentiments of longing for seasons that are not yet close.
However, is the early celebration of a holiday, especially one that promotes such strong feelings of friendship, connection and service, all that bad? If there is one demographic of people who might need a little extra love, festivity and time of reflection, it is college students who will be able to do so. At this point in the semester, students are nearing three months away from their families, saving a 4-day intermission for Fall Break back in early October. With finals nearing, projects building and social responsibilities stacked more than ever, students on campus are looking to find a piece of comfort in their living and third spaces by decorating and listening to holiday tunes.
“My family usually decorates during break–the weekend after Thanksgiving–but my roommate and I decided to do it a little bit earlier this year so we could enjoy the season,” said freshman student Mallory O’Neal.
O’Neal, a theater major from Springdale, Arkansas, put up a miniature Christmas tree and lights with her roommate in an attempt to bring the holiday cheer to their dorm.
That is another thing unique to the Christmas season on campus:there is an emphasis on celebrating with newfound friends, companions and classmates. And with the new ‘family’ there is an effort to decorate to share Christmas traditions in efforts to form even stronger bonds with friends.
“We put up lights, wall decor, a Christmas tree, ornaments and table decor,” said another first-year student Bailey Church, describing how her and her roommates adorned their apartment the day after Halloween.
She says that they played Christmas music while they worked and have been listening to holiday playlists ever since.
Church also attests that her celebration started earlier than usual this year, a couple of weeks prior to traditions with her family.
“At home, me and my mom wait until the day after Thanksgiving.”
To first-year Human and Family Development Science student Haven Davis, however, starting the holiday season early is not a foreign concept.
“My family starts decorating a little bit the day of Halloween, and then finishes decorating the day after, with our lights and all that,” said Davis.
She says that this is a regular habit for their neighborhood; in the week following Halloween houses are decked with twinkling lights, some even keeping their lights up for the full calendar year.
In starting the holiday season directly after Halloween, there is an obvious day that many are overtly overlooking: Thanksgiving. Like Christmas, Thanksgiving also encourages virtues of generosity, kindness,and connection. It often seems like it is rushed over in the sprint to Christmas.
“Thanksgiving is fun, but there are no Thanksgiving music or movies. To me, Thanksgiving and Christmas are one big holiday, and I am just extending the joy by starting my celebration earlier,” said Davis.
It is no surprise that the holiday with more commercialized films and songs is favored by college students, not to mention the upsurge of posts on social media contributing to “Christmas Aesthetics” across platforms. Radio stations have already begun playing exclusively Christmas songs.
Both O’Neal and Church stated that they’ve been listening to Christmas music nonstop, especially while studying. Not only is the music a mood-booster, it i’s a motivator to tackle some academic work.
Most of all, the environment of students plays the primary role in the campus-wide early celebration of the holiday. On Maple Street and Arkansas Avenue, sorority and fraternity houses can be seen neatly lined with string lights and windows garnished with wreaths. Starbucks released its holiday menu on November 6th, along with festive colored cups for the upcoming season. Temperatures have also begun to drop as the sun sets earlier each day, getting as low as 25 degrees Fahrenheit.
Students are attempting to manipulate the sights and sounds around them to imitate a season that cherishes warmth and promotes the coziness of sharing the indoors with company: a pure desire to make time they are counting down the days to arrive sooner.
In terms of preserving the sacredness of the traditions of Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, there is no harm in making the atmosphere seem like the holiday is days away, when there is a month between us. Christmas is not entirely composed of Bing Crosby songs and sugar cookies; it is in the act of sharing time with others intentionally and creating special moments with special people.
“My family all get dressed up and go to Christmas Eve service, just my parents, siblings, and me. After, we do a gingerbread house building competition. On Christmas day and the days after, we spend time and eat with my extended family,” said Davis.
She says it is a special few days of the year, ones that she cherishes. They are noticeably different, too, than the ones celebrated by students on campus, reserving the novelty of the holiday for time spent with hometown friends and family.
So– if you are perturbed by the advertisements of the Nutcracker on campus, annoyed by the extravagant decorations lining Maple Street or confused at the Frank Sinatra leaking out of your classmate’s Airpods during class because it is “too early for Christmas”–take a second to embrace the intention of the season. Think about who you can share this next month in Fayetteville with, even if you do not celebrate Christmas.
How can you show the virtues of generosity, kindness, and compassion this holiday season?