The tree atop Ashland University’s Christmas tree was knocked off its peak.

This could be a great opportunity to poke fun at the University, or to be a Christmas Grinch, but I prefer a simple, factual explanation; when a Christmas tree is lit up early enough in the year for tornados to touch down, a star atop the highest tree on campus won’t last long.

You could use that as evidence to halt the early celebration of Christmas. “It is all about sales, Santa, and commercialism. The true meaning of Christmas is lost!” is a common thought, and a valid one at that. I’m not here to lecture on these things, but to propose a College Christmas exception.  

When Dec. 25 rolls around, we will all be back home, celebrating Christmas with our families, participating in whatever the established family traditions may be. For me, it’ll be joyfully waking up somewhere around 6 a.m., fighting through the food baby I am still sporting from Christmas Eve dinner, and running downstairs like I am a 4-foot Kindergartener, not a 6-foot college student.

However, for eight months of the year, we are largely separated from our families. Barring the occasional weekend trip home or spontaneous lunch visit, our family contact is through phone calls or text messages. For many of us, our families during those months are the people we live with or co-workers at a campus job. It could be your academic department, or a club you are active in. As the old church song I hear every year back home goes, “Christmas is a time to love,” and we ought to share that love with the families we have formed here at Ashland.

We also deal with finals in the weeks leading up to our winter break, and nothing needs an infusion of holiday cheer quite like a college student by the end of finals. For many, papers and projects fill the weeks before finals, and the Christmas decorations and music can be reminders of the light at the end of the tunnel, that there is hope after all. Christmas is a cheerful time, finals is not. Letting the Christmas spirit infect finals ever so slightly could go a long way to keeping students sane and functioning.

With these things in mind, a College Christmas Exception seems logical. Starting November 1, on college campuses only, Christmas music, decorations, Santa hats and cookie baking may commence.  The rest of the world must wait until at least after Thanksgiving, since they have a month together to enjoy the holiday season. 

College schedules dictate all sorts of weird things, like 9:30 p.m. meetings and late-night dinner.  Moving up the Christmas season on college campuses allows for Christmas celebrations with your AU family, and infuses some joy into a depressing part of the academic year. So for me, it is time to deck the halls, bring out the Santa hat, and begin caroling. Feel free to join in, and spread some Christmas joy to those most in need. Because that, I’d say, might just be the true meaning of Christmas.