It can sometimes be hard to feel festive in college during the holiday season. We have final exams to study for, papers to write and gifts to buy on a sometimes-tight budget. We are far removed from our childhood days of waiting up for Santa and yet not caught up in it with kids of our own.
It is important that we try to find a way to manage the stress of the season while maintaining a sense of wonder and gratitude at such a special time of year. To be truly content, we must find ways to balance what we desire with what we have.
So here are five ways to tap into your inner “Buddy the Elf” and get in the Christmas spirit:
1. Donate to a Christmas charity
Whether it be Angel Tree, Operation Christmas Child or Toys for Tots, there are tons of ways to bring Christmas cheer to children and families in need. Think of the excitement you could hardly contain as you waited to open your presents on Christmas morning. But what if you had no presents? Even small donations bring joy to the less fortunate kids out there, and contributing will bring you some joy, too.
Online donations to organizations like Oxfam can help buy alternative gifts like chickens, water filters and plants for some of the world’s most impoverished families. Even a small $15 donation can improve conditions for a whole community.
2. Watch ABC Family’s “25 Days of Christmas”
Most of the programming is cheesy and predictable, and you’ve probably seen most of them half a dozen times, but don’t doubt their ability to fill you with the warm and fuzzies. When searching for the “true meaning of Christmas,” movies like “The Year Without A Santa Claus,” “The Polar Express” and “Home Alone 2: Lost in New York” are a must.
3. Send out Christmas cards
It might seem old-fashioned, but mailing cards is a good way to not only remind yourself of all the people who are important in your life, but to also let them know you care. Your friends and family, your blissfully quiet neighbors and that professor who wrote you a killer recommendation letter are all worthy recipients of a little holiday cheer. Bonus points for hand-making the cards.
4. Put up a tree
No, you don’t have to strap a 10 foot pine to the roof of your car and then try to squeeze it into the nonexistent space in your dorm or apartment. Make an alternative Christmas tree out of cardboard and make ornaments with your friends or roomies to decorate it. Another option for making an alternative tree is to cut out the shape of a tree on a large sheet of construction paper, paste it to your wall and fill it with random items or holiday knickknacks. It may not be fancy, but it will add a festive atmosphere to your living space.
5. Wear a tacky Christmas sweater
If you already have one, don’t wait for that Christmas party to break it out — put it on now! And if you don’t have one, hit up any of the five Goodwill stores in Columbia and give yourself the gift of tacky, Christmastastic clothing. It will be impossible not to smile when there’s a giant reindeer face plastered across your chest with little bells on it. So stylish.
More Like This
Jingle Jam closes out holiday festivities
By Alex Wyatt | Dec. 2, 2016Holiday events in Columbia this season
By Hailey Covell | Nov. 27, 2016