November 1- I’m driving in my little Honda and what’s that blasting through my little, blown speakers? Snicker all you want, but it’s Christmas music. Always a kid at heart, I’m perpetually in the mood for anything that reminds me that it’s the most wonderful time of the year- literally.

It is never too early to start celebrating the holiday season. Even when it was “not time yet” because Thanksgiving hadn’t passed, it was the holiday season. That includes Thanksgiving, Kwanzaa, Christmas, Hanukkah, New Year’s, and (God-forbid) a snow day or two. What student doesn’t want some time off from the daily grind in our lovely seven periods of class to enjoy good friends, good sledding and good sleep? That alone makes me sing a little louder to the radio when it says “It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas.”

I don’t see what is so special about waiting until after Thanksgiving to get in the holiday spirit. There is no magic switch that flips on on that day. So if I decide I want to be in the holiday mood, I will be and nobody can say anything to change my mind.

The holidays, for me, have always been the time of catching up with family members I don’t necessarily see as much as I would like. There’s nothing better than sitting around the table, eating pie, joking around with each other and stomping each other into the ground with Apples to Apples. With such happy memories reminding me of the encroaching holidays, it’d be crazy for me not to be excited.

It’s never too early to start getting in the holiday mood, to be a little nicer, to smile a little more, to give a little more. I, for one, stay in the holiday mood until my mom makes me take down the tree in January. There is no expiration date on a jolly spirit. So, “bah humbug!” to those who say otherwise.

Sam Dulaney