As I grow older, I quickly have found Halloween becoming one of my favorite holidays when it was once Christmas. In my family, Christmas not being my favorite holiday is almost sacrilege, but that's the case. I think it might have something to do with the fact that I don't get to be around the "Christmas spirit" as much as I once was. Perhaps my feelings will change if I ever have kids of my own.

All the same, I've quickly become a supporter of not celebrating Christmas until after Thanksgiving and here's why.

Now that I don't live at home permanently, I don't get to see my family that often. I don't have enough time for them to be over every couple of weekends and since I'm working as well I can't just go home on a Friday after class and come back Sunday before chapter.

Honest to goodness, since my birthday--the last day of September--I haven't spent more than a total of maybe 20 hours with my family, if that. That's over the span of almost two months and is not a lot.

Often I am happy that I don't see my family 24/7 anymore, but there are times like this when I miss them like hell. And knowing that Thanksgiving is right there, waiting for me to only have to eat and spend time with my immediate family and all the cousins I hardly ever see, is getting me through this rough, anxiety-filled patch in my life.

And I know you're probably thinking that Christmas should have the same sort of feeling for me, but it doesn't. Because Christmas comes with obligations.

Christmas means finding gifts for people, for seeing the friends from high school that I only see maybe five times a year and confronting the fact that I'm kinda okay with that and what that means. Christmas means having to smile and say thank you to gifts I don't really want and tell bell ringers, "no, thank you," because I've spent all my money on what I hope are perfect gifts for my family.

My obligations for Thanksgiving are simple. Maybe help mom make food. Converse with family. Joke with cousins. Eat food. Play cards. Have dessert.

See how much less anxiety-inducing a holiday Thanksgiving is?

I will continue my vigilance in stopping all Christmas celebration until Thanksgiving night for this reason. I need to just...be for a little while. I need a reason to smile and look forward to going home, not to freak out about my schedule and school and all the rest.

I'm not a Grinch, or a Scrooge, or whatever else stupid Christmas insult you can come up with, but rather an anxiety-filled college student with a lot on her plate. So please...can I just not celebrate Christmas until I get to work Thanksgiving night?