Welcome, ladies and gentleman, to our last Thursday of classes this year. You and I, I fear, are in the midst of tests and final projects, as we finally get around to writing those term papers we’ve known about since August. Take heart, though: There are only six days left of classes, then a week of exams, and then we’re home free! In that spirit of hopeful expectation, here are some things we have to look forward to:

1. Drafts — Not the good kind, the ones you get from the bar. In our quaint house, one of many architectural quirks is a 1-inch gap between our bathroom window and the wall of the house. This has consistently foiled our attempts to heat the place. It also makes getting out of the shower an adventure, because there’s always the chance you’ll get frostbite. (Some of us have taken to drinking in the shower to mitigate the pain.)

2. Sorry I have to mention it again: The Increase in Our Workloads — Winter Break is tantalizingly close, yet oh so far. I think out of an innate sense of self-preservation it was only this past week that I looked at a calendar and plotted out all the work I still have due before the end of the semester. It was good I waited, because it nearly gave me a heart attack: With only a handful of class days left, I have more work due in those few days than in the past month and a half. Sweet.

3. Winter Activities — I have never been skiing, and a few of my friends are determined to take me this year. Now, to say I am unathletic is an understatement. They want to take me skiing, I am convinced, solely in anticipation of the joy they will receive from watching me fall down constantly. About the only thing I’m looking forward to is drinking hot chocolate in front of a fire. And lessons with a cute ski instructor.

4. Spending Time with Long-Lost Friends and Family — I hope most of you are lucky enough to go to school with a lot of your close friends. For those of you who have friends scattered throughout the country, though, enjoy the time you have with them at home this holiday season. As we graduate and start working, this may be the last time I see a lot of my friends for any extended amount of time. (Sorry this is kind of a sad one …)

5. Acceptability of Listening to Christmas Songs — I have been listening to Christmas songs for about a month now, maybe longer. I had been doing it surreptitiously for awhile, but eventually my roommates caught me unaware, singing along to “O Holy Night” and collectively threw a hissy fit. They are of the ilk that listen to Christmas music only during the “Christmas season.”

If I may publicly defend my point of view: I, too, have an almost visceral reaction against the commercialization of the “holiday” season, which seems to last from about mid-October to mid-January, is no fun at all, and benefits only retailers and crazy people. To this type of holiday I would relegate songs like “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer” and “Jingle Bells,” which are fun to sing — though, I agree, not fitting for all seasons.

But let us differentiate: For some, the Christmas season is important as a time full of traditions, trees, peppermint, family and stress. For others, it is a holiday; a holy day, a time of celebration, with a supernatural significance. Now, traditions have their uses (and I love peppermint). It’s comforting and enjoyable to repeat the same routines year after year. We remind ourselves that, while many things change, many others remain the same.

But a “holiday” is meant to be a reminder to us to take the time to reflect on something specific, something which we ought really to be remembering all the time. The songs I have been listening to since before Halloween — songs like “The Little Drummer Boy” or “We Three Kings” — are ostensibly songs belonging to the mid-winter months, to that Christian holiday of Christmas, which overlaps with the secular “Christmas season.” I don’t want to wait until December to listen to them, though, because listening to these songs reminds me of the significance of the holiday, that Christ was born in order that we might have peace on Earth and good will toward men. For me, this is something worth remembering all the time, and as a compromise will leave “Rudolph” until December.

This is my last column of the term, so: Enjoy your Thanksgiving Break, good luck on your exams, have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! It’s been a pleasure.

P.S. Congratulations to mi amiga Katie Barrett, the second-runner up for Miss Homecoming!

—Leigh Dickey is a senior in global studies and Latin. She can be reached at [email protected].