Over Thanksgiving break, my mom gave me a miniature plastic Christmas tree, insisting that I take it with me to ""decorate"" my apartment. When I got back and placed it on the kitchen table, it didn't particularly bring me any cheer because I don't have any ornaments besides the accompanying miniature gold bulbs she kindly took the time to include. My prosthetic pine didn't smell a bit like a real tree, so I bought one of those car fresheners and adorned my ode to forced holiday cheer without the slightest hint of irony.
I needed a star, so I took an empty beer can and placed it upside down at the pinnacle.
It is truly a spectacular sight; an ode to college minimalism. But for all my ingenuity, our homely tree has come to represent the problem with this time of year. I'm so busy catching up with everything I haven't done in the past three months, I forget that this is supposed to be the ""most wonderful time of the year.""
In the next week you'll hear lots of high-minded stories about eating well and pacing yourself and avoiding beer bongs in College Library. It's all pretty good advice, but for me, none of it really translates into better studying habits. The one and only thing that always relaxes me come finals week is to put things in perspective—it's only a test. Fill your brain up with dates, names and formulas, and then dump them out on paper so that your TA can skim 60 of them over egg nog on Christmas Eve.
What I'm saying is, take a minute every once in a while during finals week to smell the proverbial roses.
For instance, when a Chipotle worker fills your burrito so full he or she can barely close it, take a minute to smile in appreciation.
Or the conversation you overhear in which a girl complains to her friend about ""that bitch who called her Coach purse fake,"" which makes your own life seem exponentially less dramatic and pretentious. Pause for a moment to appreciate that guy at the library who spends more time looking at passing girls than the book in front of him. Or when you give the bartender a five for your $3 drink and she gives you $7 as change.
Recently, instead of burying my face in my coat, I've tried to smile at people as they pass on the street. Some people look at me a bit strange, like maybe I have something in my teeth. But I like to think it brightens some people's day. It's the little things that let us get through all of this madness in one piece.
Besides, 26 years ago today John Lennon was shot outside his New York home. All you have to do is worry about passing a biology exam.
Here's to coffee and candy overdoses at the library, barely making deadlines and sleeping for a week after it's over. Imagine all the people, living for winter break. See you next semester.
