Redhead Ramblings: Let “the season of awesomeness” commence
When the leaves started changing color, I instantly get excited because I know the “season of awesomeness” is just around the corner. Coined by me when I was a little kid, “the season of awesomeness” describes the three month period from October to December and all the fun holiday events that come with it.
As I’ve gotten older, I’ve started to appreciate the fall weather more. I loved summer because it meant no school, but when it finally shifted from shorts and t-shirts to shorts and sweatshirt weather, it meant fun was around the corner. I don’t think I appreciated September as much as a kid because it was just changing leaves and on the rare occasion, a field trip to an apple orchard or pumpkin patch.
Even a few days before October first, the stores would put out Halloween decorations and that meant fun class parties would be coming around. I’ll get more into each holiday and my reasons for loving it in a separate column, but Halloween was a love-hate relationship for me as a kid. I liked picking a new Halloween costume each year and wearing it around the house for a few weeks beforehand, but hated any sort of decoration that moved or looked scary. I would avoid Target and Walgreens aisles that didn’t have candy. I’d even edge alongside the aisles that had scary costumes. I guess you could say Halloween might have been the root cause of anxiety and trust issues.
The days following my sugar high from my successful nights of trick-or-treating slowed down a bit, but still held the air of joy. I think Thanksgiving gets a bad rap. To be fair, there aren’t really any songs, movies or activities associated with Thanksgiving like Halloween and Christmas. However, it’s still an opportunity for me to get together with family and spend time with them. I’m not going to argue about taking a few days off of school, eat good food I typically get once a year and get into the holiday spirit.
In our house, Christmas starts the day after Thanksgiving. I find it a bit asinine to jump into ugly Christmas sweaters as soon as the clock strikes midnight. I’ve barely changed out of my Halloween costume and again, show some love to Thanksgiving! We put our tree up on Black Friday instead of elbowing and fighting crowds of people for presents and it’s such a welcoming, happy feel. Christmas has always and forever will be my favorite holiday. It’s nostalgic, joyful, bright and fun. Christmas break was always fun to look forward to, and as a college student, I love it even more given our breaks are about five weeks long as opposed to 10 days. All I’ll say is it’s worth the 11 month wait.
Yes, summer is a great three month span where there’s no responsibilities and endless memories to be made, but the “ber” months are in full swing now. Seriously, three months of back-to-back-to-back events to look forward to? One could say it’s “pure awesomeness.”
Caption: Just know, before Hallothankmas was a thing, I coined it the “season of awesomeness (Courtesy Alvin Apparel).
Write to emma.johnson.5@mnsu.edu