Looking a lot like Christmas
By Jane Muhlstein
"Twas the night after Halloween when all through the apartment, my roommates and I were sprawled out on the living room floor watching TV." It's not exactly poetic, I know, but it seemed fitting for what I am about to describe.
As we sat at home unsuspecting, watching the "Saturday Night Live Presidential Bash," the show cut to a commercial break. All of a sudden, a little boy appeared on the screen, playing with a new train set under a decked out Christmas tree.
When exactly did the culmination of the election season become the beginning of the holiday season?
While this was the first sign of Christmas cheer I had seen so far this year, my roommates soon informed me that I've just been a little sheltered lately. While the demands of this crazy quarter have had me staying home to study more weekends than I'd like to admit, Valley Fair has apparently been filling people with the Christmas spirit for quite some time.
Macy's, I hear, has been entirely covered in yuletide decor for weeks, and the rest of the mall followed suit the day after Halloween.
At the risk of sounding like a 90-year-old woman reliving her glory days, I remember the days of waiting until after Thanksgiving to even start thinking about Christmas. The first time I ever remember seeing Santa Clause during the holiday season when I was little was when he rode through Manhattan at the end of the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade to the tune of "Here Comes Santa Clause."
Christmas time was more fun, more special, when it lasted one month instead of three. It almost feels as though the holiday season now takes up an entire fiscal quarter.
I went home two weeks ago to celebrate my mom and brother's birthdays with my family. When my five-year-old brother finished opening his birthday presents, he began to recite to his family a list of all the things he wants to ask for this Christmas. When kindergarteners are thinking about Christmas before Halloween, we need to slow things down.
I love the holiday season as much as anyone else. The lights, the music, the food, the Christmas specials, the shopping. Especially the three weeks off school. But let's at least make sure we survive midterms before we start hanging our stockings.
* Ã Ã Contact Jane Muhlstein at (408) 554-4546 or jmuhlstein@scu.edu.