Christmas time is and should be cherished. It is a time to come back home and be with family, especially for us college students who don’t live within an afternoon drive from home. So once that final is finished and the dorm is locked until the New Year, the holiday begins.

Coming home and putting up the tree is a ritual that celebrates family above all. Every adjustment to make sure the tree is straight, every branch holding a new challenge to twist and finagle a thin wire or thread onto and every ornament pulled out of the box coming with a story told every year and a reminder of how time moves forward, but these talismans of our past continue to hold power. Wouldn’t want more time to tell that story? More time for that story to be out of the box and be proud of what it represents? The Christmas season is one I feel that isn’t solely a day. It is a season to be with family and packing it up prematurely feels wrong. 

Having those memories with you to carry to the New Year is letting them exist with a little longer before putting them back in the dark and dust-filled space they inhabit for the next eleven months.

Now make no mistake I am not campaigning for the tree to stay up while you exchange flowers and valentines. But giving it more time to ease you into the dull, grey hangover of January, reminds you and yours and where you come from… it also buys time for you to pack everything and run back to campus before the holiday cleaning commences.