Christmas is by far the best time of the year. And I'm not talking just about the 25th, but all the days leading up to that day. In my humble opinion, the Christmas season begins the day school starts in August. But that's a contrast to popular belief, most people would fight me in defense that the Christmas season doesn't begin until after Thanksgiving. Even then, some people want to wait until December. Why would they? Christmas is the best time of the year, why would you want to wait until December to celebrate it? I've been waiting all year to write an article about this and I can't wait any longer.

Just like the song says, Christmas is the "hap-happiest season of all." Why? I have several theories. I'll lay out a few for you here. They're really quite easy to understand if you see the very nature of Christmas. It's a time of happiness. All the way from the very first Christmas when baby Jesus was born, to this one that we are soon to celebrate, all hold a common theme.

First comes camaraderie. The Christmas season for centuries has been a time when families and friends come together to celebrate. Christmas reunites families for a good few weeks and allows them to live together how they would have once upon a time. Being in a family where the majority of the members within it are college-aged and older, this theme is quickly becoming more important. We are all on our own now and the Christmas season is pivotal in getting us all together again under one roof. It's for remembering old memories and creating new ones. It's for introducing new parts of the family and celebrating the ones who have been there since the start. In fact, this reuniting of the family is such an important theme of Christmas, it's often what is portrayed on the Hallmark Channel Christmas movies. The protagonist will deal with either the lack of or the inability to get to family during the Christmas season. Of course, then, with a little Christmas magic, everything turns out okay and the family is brought together. Sometimes even, if we're lucky, a romance will start.

Secondly, there is the theme of decorating. I let this theme be broad: it can range from actual ornaments on the Christmas tree to the food that is served on Christmas eve. Just this year, since I starting attending Hastings College, I've experienced what it's like to live in a town that decorates their buildings for Christmas. Sure, in Conifer people decorate their houses, but there's something even more magical about Christmas lights against brick buildings, competing for attention from the streetlights and stars. There's something about wreaths on statues and big ornaments hanging down from the branches of trees you walk under every day. It's beautiful, and it's a large part of the season. I could walk for miles on Christmas decorated streets. When they officially turned on the lights on campus, we celebrated with Christmas songs, hot chocolate, and "The Night Before Christmas" as read by our school president. College students gathered near and far to his ankles where they eagerly listened to each word read. That in its own is a beautiful decoration.

Lastly, and most predominately, is gift giving and receiving. Some people claim this to be the most tedious part of Christmas, but I think it to be important. You might have to spend a bit of money, but you'll get to see the people you love and cherish smile because you did. It's the time of the year to show people how much you care. And not much money has to be spent on it. Even a card with a few kind words written in it can convey the message. I love the tradition, perhaps because I love giving. I love seeing the look on people's faces when they realize that you spent time thinking about them and what they love. It's that realization that people get (and perhaps the relief) that somebody cares about them. They get a twinkle in their eye and a goofy smile on their face, and sometimes they even give a hug in return. This year, my friends at college decided to do a secret Santa operation so that everyone got a gift without having to spend too much money (we're in college, remember?). Words cannot describe how excited I am to go to Good Will and pick out a gift for my Secret Santa. That's Christmas.

That's Christmas, indeed. It is the 'hap-happiest season of all," and I'm an advocate for starting to celebrate it in August, no matter how much it bothers everyone else. Merry Christmas!