“Is it too early to play Christmas music?” I ask in the middle of September. “Yes,” everybody on my dorm floor practically yells. The Christmas bug hits me early each year and typically doesn’t go away until the last of the Christmas decorations are taken down. So for the sake of my floor, I have been listening to my Spotify Christmas playlist with my headphones in for the last few months, you’re welcome.

Now Thanksgiving has come and gone and I don’t have to play my Christmas music in secret anymore! Pretty soon my room will be decorated and it will only be a matter of weeks until the actual holiday is upon us! Hopefully, I’ll be able to watch the 25 Days of Christmas Movies on Freeform. Who doesn't love the classics like "The Year Without a Santa Claus" and "Santa Claus is Comin’ to Town"?

There is just something so magical about Christmas that puts me in a good mood.

As soon as I see Santa at the end of the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade I know these upcoming weeks will be full of Christmas Spirit. Maybe it’s the way everybody is nicer to each other, differences get set aside just for a little bit, and everybody is friends with one another.

But maybe it’s the child-like wonder of Christmas coming out in all of us. I feel like it never really goes away. The anticipation of waiting for “Santa Claus”. The countdown to Christmas Day, waiting for that one present you’ve been dreaming about for months. The mystery behind how Santa got all your presents under the tree and ate all the cookies.

Another big aspect of Christmas is time spent with your family. Seeing those loved ones you only get to see a few times a year and making those hours count. Having fun with your crazy cousins and continuing traditions that you’re not even sure how it started like tossing a dinner roll down the table while screaming “ROLL!”.

Somehow all these feelings are captured in Christmas Music. The anticipation for the cold weather, decorated storefronts, and Christmas movies to start playing. The music captures the joy, wonder, happiness, and so much more. Maybe that’s why I really like playing it in the middle of September. I don’t necessarily want the holiday to happen right that moment, but rather to bottle up all those emotions and circulate them throughout the entire year. Maybe one day it won’t just take the Christmas season for people to be happy or nice to one another, but have it for the entire year. Until then I’m going to try and capture it as best as I can in the few weeks every year. Just remember each and every one of us has the Christmas spirit inside if we just believe in it.

So, I leave you with a quote from my all-time favorite Christmas, The Polar Express; "Sometimes seeing is believing, and sometimes the most real things in the world are the things we can’t see."