It’s difficult to get excited about almost anything these days. Without going into any detail—as I’m sure none of us need any reminding—the world hasn’t seemed like a fun place to be for a while now.
Despite the chaotic hustle and bustle of our lives, I know many of us are clinging to the one thing we can always look forward to: the holidays.
The long-awaited holiday season is approaching, and the anticipation is the only thing keeping me sane this semester. Not only is it a break from all things academic—unless you’re one of the poor souls taking winter intersession classes—but it carries a distinct sense of childhood happiness and pure nostalgia that I can’t help but relish in every year, especially during the pandemic.
There’s just something about carving pumpkins, cooking holiday feasts and decorating Christmas trees that fills me with immense joy. I see it as an escape to the simpler days of my childhood.
However, as every columnist comes to learn one fateful day, there will always be those that disagree.
It’s not necessarily that people are vehemently opposed to cute decorations or holiday festivities, but I have noticed that the seeming majority of people are extremely sensitive about when you partake in these activities.
Throughout my entire life, I’ve always heard criticism about people decorating too early for holidays. Putting up a Christmas tree on Black Friday was ridiculous, and creating a haunted house in your front yard before mid-October was unheard of.
And I’ll admit it—I used to adhere to this mindset, too. If someone so much as uttered “Christmas” before Dec. 1, they were far too excited. They were doing the most for no good reason.
As I’ve aged, though, I’ll admit that I have embraced what I once relentlessly rolled my eyes at—an excess of holiday spirit.
I regret nothing.
After all, what’s the point in shutting someone down for decorating too early? Unless it’s a Christmas-in-July fiasco that distorts all of our mental calendars, I really don’t see the harm in trying to have a good, wholesome, festive time.
A lot of the discourse around this early decorating phenomenon calls it cringy or cheesy.
Call it cheesy all you want, but I’ll gladly embarrass myself for the entire month of October as long as I get to watch “Hocus Pocus” at least three times surrounded by pumpkins, forgetting about my adult responsibilities.
Holidays are a few days of celebration only once a year, so why should I be shamed for trying to harness the spirit early and relish in it? It doesn’t (or shouldn’t) directly impact anyone else, so I don’t see why society has imposed such strict yet pointless rules for when exactly we should spice up our house décor for the holidays.
I suppose critics will be critics, though.
However you feel about this clearly crucial issue, I’m still just looking forward to the day when we can all use holiday festivities as a nostalgia-packed escape from our terrifying, disorderly world.
Emily Davison is a 20-year-old anthropology and English junior from Denham Springs.