Gobble time is around the corner, and many have been excited to celebrate safely with family since the day after Halloween. For me, I entirely leap toward Christmas and create a special holiday of my own. Let’s call it “Thanks-mas.”
“Thanks-mas” is how I pay an ode to both Thanksgiving and Christmas in Orlando, before celebrating the holidays with my family. Though it’s frowned upon to celebrate Christmas immediately after October 31, I would say it’s highly valid to want to celebrate in your own apartment as well, with those you care about in your home away from home.
Now, taking into consideration the COVID blues, it’s curated even more reasoning for me to find pockets of happiness in my version of the holidays. Frankly, I spend a majority of my days typing away on the computer, as I am now, but the joy of celebrating is what truthfully is pulling me into high spirits.
You may be asking at this point, “Okay, so how do you magically celebrate ‘Thanks-mas’ since you’re hyping it up so much?” Well, that’s simple, and it varies per person, but I’ll share some of my best moments with it.
Combatting end of the semester stress and the staying-indoors-for-too-long syndrome has been gone since I started binge-watching every Netflix Christmas movie possible, with some Hallmark movies in the queue. This is one of the simpler steps in beginning to celebrate, and the movies even feature moments from Thanksgiving that then transition into Christmas. A happy medium for us all! This has been the most strategic way to begin indulging in the festivities while finishing up any assignments or work needing to be done for school.
Another way I’ve decided to spark “Thanks-mas” is through decorating my car with fall and Christmas decor. Who says pumpkins and candy canes don’t match? I think it’s the perfect combination and vibe to fill your car with some notes of pumpkin spice with a side of peppermint sticks. Especially during this period of time, my car has been a haven, and now that it’s decorated I’m having a blast picking up my coffee each morning.
Lastly, the epitome of it all and why I celebrate early and combine both holidays is to cherish those moments with friends or my significant other in a pre-COVID world. Think of it as the 12 days of Christmas on steroids shaped like turkeys — a weird analogy, but just go with it. I take a moment each day to think of what will really fill my “holiday cup.” It could be Christmas gift shopping for my loved ones, or maybe I’ll decide to try a new holiday drink; these are the tiniest moments that give me such an aura of peace. Even more so, I’m finding new holiday combinations of things such as visiting pumpkin patches, and then the next thing you know, I’m visiting a Christmas light drive-through extravaganza. What more could you want?
“Thanks-mas” is ultimately about celebrating YOU and how you’re wanting to make an impact in the lives of those closest to you in a truly difficult time where we’re all still adapting to the holidays. Before this year, it allowed me to cherish and show love to my friends and family. Now, it gives me the opportunity to do more than that, including investing in myself, because we’re getting creative this season.
Your takeaway from this should be to go forth and do you! Celebrate and find whatever is going to fill your cup!