Alexandra Hill ’28 is a prospective English major and creative writing minor. She does research at the IIC Conservation GIS lab and is a member of Vox. Contact her at abhill@wm.edu.
The views expressed in the article are the author’s own.
I think I finally get Perry Como’s song “Home for the Holidays.”
For me, it’s weird being in Williamsburg for December. No tree with the super ugly homemade ornaments from me and my brother’s kindergarten days. My dog isn’t here trotting around with a jingle bell collar, trying to sneak some cookies off the table. My neighbor’s giant Santa inflatable that I always worry is about to take a nosedive and crush me isn’t around either.
All those things are at home.
It’s my first semester here, and it’s not that Williamsburg isn’t home. It is, or at least it’s becoming that. It’s full of friends and charm and the Sadler ice cream that I will dearly miss over winter break. It’s home, but at the same time it’s not.
For me, December has always been a time for slowing down, spending time with the people I love and drinking copious amounts of hot cocoa. It also happens to be finals season, which I believe is terribly unjust, but that’s really a rant for another article.
If you’re also lamenting the special Decembers you enjoy when you’re not in a dorm writing a paper that’s due tomorrow, then listen up:
Here’s what we have to do, folks. In order to erase that happiness-starts-when-finals-ends mindset, we’ve got to start making our own traditions.
Yep, you’re here in Williamsburg. It’s a typical roasting hot December. Just because it’s time for finals does not mean we must live a winter as sad as the album “Stick Season.” So it’s time to gather your wonderful TWAMP friends and get holly jolly (or whatever emotion best matches the holidays you’re celebrating this month).
We are all creating a new home here, whether you’re a freshman or a senior, on-campus or commuting. You get to decide what you fill that home with. Best of all, you can get the chance to start some killer traditions, or just have some fun, in the process.
Here’s a few ideas for what to do:
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Bake something, anything! (Time to put that secret family recipe to good use?)
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Walk around Colonial Williamsburg and admire the ice skating rink while in a t-shirt and shorts, because global warming can’t stop us from enjoying winter sports!
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Make a fall semester time capsule and hide it in the crypts. (Just kidding, that would be illegal and unoriginal, because it was my idea first. Please be creative and legal about your hiding spot.)
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Write letters to your friends and tell them how they remind you of Reveley the Griffin because they are so awesome and inspiring!
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Learn something new and artsy and/or check out the Makerspace.
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Watch your favorite movie and start a fanbase for it.
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Dance in the middle of Sunken Garden like nobody’s watching.
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Go stargazing and pick a star just for you, so one day you can look up at the sky and get all teary-eyed about the College of William and Mary and the good old days.
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Bring a tradition from home, wherever that is, and share it on campus.
Not to get too deep or anything, but here’s a big lesson I’ve learned: Life is really what you make of it. Thus, college and December and finals season are really what you make of them. We are here to work hard, but we are also here to have fun and make memories.
Honestly, I won’t remember what’s on my psychology final or even what score I get on it a few years from now. But what I might just remember is an ugly sweater crafting night with my friends or that weird star an article in The Flat Hat Opinions told me to name many moons ago.
I refuse to wait for the joy of the holidays to commence only when finals are over. I would be wasting a few perfectly awesome weeks! I might not be “Home for the Holidays” in the Perry Como sense during the start of December, but I am at the College for that time. And I believe we have a decision to not just call this place home but to make this place home. So, cheers to a TWAMP-y (TWAMP-ful? TWAMP-ilicious?) holiday season!