Christmas time is here and college students everywhere are bundling up and shutting down. The Thanksgiving Break teaser has put us in a coma that we cannot wake up from until we put our pencils down and officially finish our first semester classes. Winter Break is the best part of this stressful month, and for good reason. Who doesn’t love gingerbread and presents? There are several stages to this glorious time in a college student’s life. I thought it only right to show these different parts of Winter Break with the man himself, Buddy the Elf.
Finals Week is over! You hand in the last Blue Book and run out of the classroom. It’s finally over. You feel amazing, beside the fact that you have lost all feeling in your writing hand. This is probably the best part of break because you can throw out, shred, or even burn all those papers you had to stuff in your dorm room.
Your finals are over and you just want to hop on a plane and leave. Then you remember that you spent all your time studying for your finals and didn’t pack anything yet. PANIC! You’re so overwhelmed that you throw everything in sight into your suitcase and leave your toothbrush, all your socks, and your right boot in your dorm room. You don’t care though, because you just want to be home.
You’re outside the door. You can’t wait to see your family, but you then you remember your grandpa’s racists comments at Thanksgiving dinner and your aunt nagging you about getting a job close to home soon after that. Do you really want to go home to that again? You’re paralyzed on the front step until you decide to suck it up and just open the door.
You love the fact that you get to see your family for so long, but after the first 24 hours it can get a little old. But what about all your friends?! You totally forgot that they were home too and you can’t wait to jump in your car and see them, because your mom is asking you about your final grades for the fifth time.
Oh Christmas Tree. Oh Christmas Tree. How lovely are your green and regular size branches. Every college student can relate to this struggle of a lack of real Christmas tree when you are crammed into your room studying all day. It’s nice to see a full size, evergreen tree waiting for you at home. Sometimes you just want to hug it.
All the work at school is over, so parents automatically think that your schedule is clear to do chores and errands on a moments notice. I guess this is true, but you are so tired from finals week all you want to do is sleep for days and eat the entire contents of the pantry. Is that such a bad thing?
You do the chores anyway though, because you know that Santa will be watching you very closely these next few days. So you suck it up and take out the trash in below freezing temperatures.
If you refuse to do the chores, your parents love to tell you that Santa will put coal in your stocking. You know they’re just kidding, but you roll your eyes because they always pull the coal card to get you to do the worst things like doing the dishes or waking up before noon.
Christmas Day is the best, though. It’s the one day you wake up at a reasonable time, and for good reason. You get to open presents! You always unwrap in anticipation of that one gift that you really wanted, and when you finally find it, you… circle around in a revolving door. (Oh Will Ferrell.)
You try not to let your parents make you feel guilty when you get everything you wanted on Christmas and you didn’t help your mom with dinner the night before, but it’s inevitable. The guilt is killing you, but you repay them with thank yous and hugs. Never chores.
Despite your laziness and ungratefulness, your parents still cook food for you. You accept it of course when you start to remember how bad dining hall food tastes and the fact that you have to go back to that food eventually. So you eat everything in sight.
When the second semester start approaches, you start to stuff food into your suitcase and room to make sure that you have enough food to make the transition from good to… not so good less painful in January.
You’re always sad to leave after that wonderful holiday, but your family is literally pushing you out the door. You ate all their food, created more mess, and more laundry. Despite all that, they still accept you back into their homes in the summer. Too bad Christmas in July isn’t a real thing.