Anticipation and such

So, I came home from school today- first time in eleven weeks. It's been awhile.

From my college in western Ohio to the suburb of Cleveland where I live is roughly three or so hours according to Google maps. Since my roommate, Jack, lives around Cleveland, I drop him off at a location where our paths split and his parents take him the remaining half hour home.

This being said, our drive home consists of me driving and him passed out in my passenger seat due to having been awake for thirty or so hours studying for a given exam. His iPod earbuds are in and- while Jack is a great guy- his earbuds are of not the best quality. Even when he doesn't have the sound blasting, I can hear clear lyrics from his earbuds. Yes, maybe not the highest quality. But, I joke about it and he takes it in stride. In order not to wake him up, I kept my music off until I dropped him off.

And then, I smiled as I was around Cleveland and knew that I would be able to listen to my favorite radio channel. Now, I know it sounds silly, but I like to enjoy the little things in life and hearing 106.5 on the drive home just works for me. Turning the knob, I smile in anticipation as I expected to hear some rock or alternative song soothing my ears from the silent drive. I was...disappointed.
Christmas music began to fill my minivan- well, the parts of it that didn't have roughly fifty pounds of dirty laundry and other assorted objects I was taking him. It filled the car as I groaned in defeat. This couldn't be happening. It is November 18th. Over a month before Christmas.


As the blithe chorus of Feliz Navidad pounded against my head, I thought back to Halloween. One of my friends in my pharmacy class was hosting a party for her kids and needed some guys (read: me and my friends) to put on face paint, hide out in her backyard and scare her kids. Now, this was no difficult feat- children normally run screaming from me (ha ha), but finding face paint one day before Halloween was interesting as when I went into the Rite Aid across from my college- I really had to look for it. This was not because there was a lack of face paint- there were a few kits- but because all of the Halloween stuff was being cast aside for Christmas stuff. October 30th. Yikes.

I guess I have had a problem with Christmas- not so much the holiday itself, but the way that it is celebrated. For the purpose of this post, I think I am going to restrict my scope to the anticipation of Christmas, not so much the commercialization (at this point).


To be fair, I am Orthodox Christian, and the fasting for forty days before the Nativity that a number of faithful do is indeed anticipating the holiday. However, I draw the line at bombardment with Christmas ads and music. I mean, there are some Christmas songs that I like and some ads that aren't that bad, but I think the constant stream of them diminishes their value and by association- the holiday itself. Perhaps tomorrow I will go into some things I actually like about Christmas. To specify my terminology in future posts, Christmas is the secular holiday celebrated December 25th while the Nativity is the term I will use for the religious holiday celebrated December 25th.

Getting back to my original point, I think the fact that the celebration and anticipation for Christmas beginning so early really hurts the holiday itself. For one, how long could one stay excited for some event? How long could one sustain energy and fervor for a holiday? For me, maybe two weeks, depending on the holiday. But since the Christmas frenzy is starting in mid November, I may be burned out before December rears its head. I suppose I may have trouble getting excited for Christmas and the Nativity because I cannot focus solely on the holiday- moreso the tests and papers that will inevitably be assigned and stand between me and my journey home. I suppose I should feel more motivated for the Nativity, but it so difficult with so many early cares dragging one down. Hmm. Maybe I shall have to think on that some more.

Again, sorry for my delay in writing- it has been a hectic quarter and I need to ease myself back into the whole "writing every day" thing.

-Reven