Taking part in holiday decorating can bring cheer, stress relief during finals

Before I left Kalamazoo for Thanksgiving this year, I did something I had never done in all my years living in

Ryan Minier

Kalamazoo: I put up a Christmas tree.

In the corner of my apartment stands a 6 foot slim Wesley Pine straight from Walmart adorned with some colorful lights and decorations.

In past years I never saw the point of decorating at all since we only have classes for a week after Thanksgiving and then there’s just a (sometimes partial) week of final exams after that, and who has time to enjoy decorations during finals week?  But this year, despite the woeful economy, impulse shopping got the best of me, and I invested in an artificial tree.

What caused this change to my normally Ebenezer Scrooge decorations policy?

I decided that having some lit up decorations could bring some cheer and relieve some stress in my and others’ lives.  Between reading for classes and writing a paper, I assembled my tree and had a great break from studying.  On top of that, my living space is rather plain (at least compared to back home) and this gave me an excuse to add some color and variety to the mix.

But besides decorations playing into the overall holiday cheer and being a stress reliever, they fit with the overall transformation of Kalamazoo being a just a place where I temporarily live to being a home.

This is the first year that I have enjoyed my living situation enough to truly care enough to decorate for the holidays.

During my first two years of undergraduate work at Western Michigan University I lived in the residence halls.  Each of these years was a very positive experience for me, but at the time I couldn’t justify trading off any precious space for something not absolutely necessarily like Christmas decorations.  For the next two years I lived off campus, but my apartment was really just a place to sleep for me and not a host for social gatherings or many guests.

After a few years at WMU though, it has gotten to the point where I feel at home here.  Besides a more “at home” feeling, I will also find myself in Kalamazoo much more often between semesters through my involvement in various community groups.

Beka Schaefer, a sophomore majoring in geography and living off campus said that she doesn’t plan on decorating this year, but that her roommate might.

“I don’t have decorations and I’m not going to go out and buy them, but if my parents gave me some things then I might,” Schaefer said.

“I have a Christmas tree and lights and a stocking in my window,” said Michael Center, a senior majoring in elementary education and a resident assistant in French Hall.  “I’ve heard a lot of people planning or talking about [decorating].”

Center said that as an RA if a resident is feeling homesick he would encourage them to decorate with pictures from home or for the holidays to make their room feel more like home again.

Whether it is through decorations or something else, I encourage everyone living at college to find some way to make what is probably just a temporary living arrangement more of a home.

For many, college is the first time away from home and all of its related traditions.  Even if you’re not ready to call where you’re at now, “home,” bringing some traditions from home to college can brighten your day and make family and friends seem a little less far away.

It might also improve your mood and outlook during stressful times.  At the very least, a brightly lit Christmas tree can give you some light to read by as you study late while your roommate tries to sleep during finals week.

Ryan Minier, a Western Herald Opinion columnist, is a graduate student in the Spanish department and can be reached via e-mail at ryan.j.minier@wmich.edu.

Short URL: http://www.westernherald.com/?p=2639

Posted by HeraldAdmin on Nov 30 2008. Filed under Opinion. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry

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