• Skip to main content
  • Skip to header right navigation
  • Skip to site footer
College Magazine logo

College Magazine

College Life, Dating, Career & Campus Advice

  • Colleges
    • College Guides
    • College Rankings
    • Campus Life
      • Academics
      • Dating
      • Freshman Year
      • Health
      • Social Change
      • Party
    • Find Your College
  • Majors
    • All Majors
    • Most Popular Majors
    • Choosing a Major
  • Intern
    • Internship Directory
    • How to Get an Internship
    • How to Write a Resume
    • How to Write a Cover Letter
    • How to Interview
    • How to Network
    • Career 101
    • Find Your Passion Career
  • Money
    • How to Make Money
    • How to Save Money
    • How to Get a Job
    • Credit Cards 101
    • FAFSA
    • Ramen Project
  • Travel
    • Study Abroad
    • College Spring Break
    • How to Travel Cheap
    • Things to Do
  • Shop
    • College Magazine Shop
    • Gift Guides
    • College Packing List
Home » Latest Posts » The Caroling Jew Tackles Holiday Decorations
Life

The Caroling Jew Tackles Holiday Decorations

FacebookTweet
Max Dietz December 22, 2015

Tradition dictates that someone at the dinner table will make a fuss about political correctness during the Christmas season. Right alongside the cheerful holiday music that makes you hum along and drive yourself nuts at the same time, people make a big stir and the holiday war continues to rage. This benefits no one, including myself, mainly because I’m just in it for the pretty lights.

Giphy.com
Giphy.com

I’m Jewish. I was born Jewish, raised Jewish and I even taught Hebrew to little Jewish kids, but Christmas still reigns as my favorite time of the year. Now, my Jewish readers, don’t tune me out yet. My favorite holiday is Chanukah of course, but that usually rolls around Christmastime.

Why do I love the Christmas seasons? The decorations, of course. Your house looks silly if you put a giant blow-up dreidel on the front lawn, but decking the halls with lights, wreaths, nine blow-up reindeer, a sleigh and a 7-foot-tall Santa screams normalcy. My neighborhood goes crazy about light decorations. Hired services exist that cover every square inch of your yard in colorful lights.

My Christmas Eve tradition involves driving around and looking at all of the decorated palm trees and the perfectly lined up inflatable decorations in my neighborhood. I’m always surprised to see the amount of time people put into decorating their houses. Some look as chaotic as the house from National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation. My favorite house is the one with the A Christmas Story leg lamp in the window. I love driving by these houses for one simple reason: I have the attention span of a goldfish and I like looking at twinkling lights.

Giphy.com
Giphy.com

I attend Florida State University, a large state university. That means two things around Christmas season: Supposedly equal representation of all religious holidays (I personally think Kwanzaa is under recognized) and people getting pissed off about holidays being under recognized (case-in-point).

Still, FSU has its fair share of Christmas decorations. Decorated Christmas trees and red-wrapped boxes are offset by a few scattered menorahs, but no grand centerpiece dominates campus or makes a big affair whose presence ushers in the holiday season. In New York City, the Rockefeller Christmas tree acts as a symbol to New Yorkers’ that the holiday season began. At FSU, we need an inclusive way to welcome the holiday season.


trending

110

How Graduation is Causing Me a (Good) Existential Crisis

Gretchen Rubin, author of Life in Five Sense
96

Awaken Your Five Senses with #1 NYTs Bestselling Author Gretchen Rubin

78

Adulting with Your Mom Is Fun


I understand and agree that officials can’t stick a giant Christmas tree in the middle of the campus green, mainly because Christmas is in the name. And let’s face the facts; the school also putting out a giant menorah won’t help either. Trees are just sexier than candleholders, even ones that hold nine candles. I propose a compromise to appease the culturally sensitive and desire for festive lights.

What is it about basic decorations, like lights, that make seem exclusive to Christmas? Nothing! We can follow the current shift towards secular holidays. Put the grand religious statements on the backburner and focus on what the modern point of all of these festivals should be: Bringing people closer together.

There doesn’t need to be a nativity scene, Santa Claus or a 50-foot blow-up dreidel, but how cool would it be to see your school’s football stadium strung up with hundreds of thousands of little lights? Lighting up the stadium would be a symbol of unity amongst the school. No green and red; blue and white; black, red and green; just your school’s colors. After all, aren’t we all in this for the pretty lights?

About Max Dietz

Max is a freshman at FSU, a kid’s book author, and has no idea what he wants to do with his life! His passion for useless information is only rivaled by his love of The Far Side comics.

What To Do Next When You Don’t Know What To Do

Q&A with ASCEND app Creators Sydney Campos and David Richeson

How a Last-Minute Gap Semester Changed My Life

Is Online Learning Right for You?

10 Things All International Students Understand

5 Pre-Finals Rituals to Follow for Optimum Study Time

Life Lessons I Learned in Fitness Classes

A Dream Deferred

So I Moved Back Home After Graduation…

Previous Post:Top 10 Gifts for Marvel Fanboys
Next Post:Mastering Motivation

colleges

  • College Guides
  • College Rankings
  • Campus life
  • Academics
  • Dating
  • Freshmen Year
  • Health
  • Party

majors

  • All College Majors
  • Most Popular Majors
  • Choosing a Major

intern

  • Internships Directory
  • How to Write a Resume
  • How to Write a Cover Letter
  • How to Interview
  • How to Get an Internship
  • How to Network

money

  • How to Make Money
  • How to Save Money
  • How to Get a Job
  • Credit Cards 101
  • College Loans

travel

  • Study Abroad
  • College Spring Break
  • How to Travel Cheap
  • Things to Do

shop

  • College Packing List
  • Gift Guides
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • RSS Feed
  • Twitter
  • About Us
  • Team
  • Write
  • Apply
  • Privacy Policy
  • Sign Up
  • Advertise
  • My Account
  • Cart

College Magazine logo

Copyright © 2023 Powered by BizBudding