Holiday breaks in college are so much more than just breaks from classes. They are a break from endless amounts of reading and studying, genuine relaxation, home cooked meals, quality time with family and a reunion with friends.

The first is the most obvious, holiday breaks are a break from endless amounts of reading and studying. Sure, many classes assign homework over Thanksgiving break, but most, if not all, are not due until the Monday or Tuesday after break, which means that the normal weekend is plenty of time to complete it. On the contrary, Christmas break marks the end of the semester, which means no homework at all and thus, even more free time. This ensures that us hard working college students get plenty of time to kick back, relax and eat food without fret of school work.

This leads me to my next points, genuine relaxation and home-cooked meals. Holiday breaks are much longer in college, which leaves much more time to really relax. We get more than the traditional weekend relaxation. During breaks, we can sleep in every day and stay up as late as we want; there’s no 8 AM classes to stop us. We can also sleep in our own beds that are much comfier than dorm beds. In addition, to make our time off even more relaxing, is a plethora of home-cooked meals. College food is decent, but the same five or six greasy meals get real old real fast. That nice turkey on Thanksgiving Day, ham on Christmas and every home-cooked meal in between taste more and more heavenly after a semester away.

Along with no homework, relaxation and home-cooked meals is much needed family time. In many cases, we are not the only ones home. For at least a portion of the time, the rest of the family comes together and talks, catches up, bonds. Sometimes it is the reunion of distant relatives or extended family and sometimes it is simply the reunion of immediate family: older siblings take time out of their busy lives to come home, and parents get a few days off. Regardless of number, these are the times we truly learn to cherish in college. They are reminders of our childhood, how we spent all our days before we all grew up in a hurry.

Lastly, holiday breaks are a chance to reunite with friends back home. College friends are great and all, they are the ones who we share the same breathing space with for four years and share many firsts and milestones with, but nothing can replace an old friendship, some of which are near a decade old. We may not all be home at the exact same time, but our breaks are bound to overlap at some point. In some scenarios, college breaks are the only times we see our lifelong high school friends that call another university home. Of equal importance, breaks are another opportunity to see those friends who still call our hometown home, the friends we have probably seen a bit more frequently on our weekend visits home, but this time our bonding does not have to be cut short.

Holiday breaks are a college student’s safety net. They are a relaxing time to catch up on sleep and fill the stomach and provide for quality time with friends and family. Breaks are truly a time to be cherished.