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Some Things to do
over the Holiday
By Jamie Jasmer
It is that time of year that we all get to
take a break from school, enjoy some time with our families, but,
most importantly, relax. However, Christmas break isn’t all it’s
cracked up to be. The glitz and the glam of the twinkling
lights and decorations do not permeate all aspects of life.
Unfortunately, this time of year might mean suffering through
the obnoxious voice of that great aunt you love so much. You
might also get to spend some quality time with your grandmother
who buys you sweaters with kittens on them and who pinches your
cheeks. The best of all is getting to spend time with the
grandfather who pats your head and calls you “Sonny” because he
fails to acknowledge that you’re 20 and no longer 5. All in all
though, you’re able to over look those things and see them for
what they’re worth- time with people who love you and don’t get
to see you too often since you’re an “oh so busy” college
student.
Others
are going to be spending their holiday time working part time
jobs. The options for a holiday job are endless and sometimes
hilarious. You might get a job in a department store wrapping
gifts for old ladies who want the bows to be perfect, and they
will yell at you eight times before you get it exactly the way
they want it. If you are bold enough you might also get to
dress up in green tights, a red jump suit, and shoes 4 sizes too
big with bells on the tips because you are playing one of
Santa’s elves at the local mall. Finally, you might be able to
get a job in the local coffee shop serving the overly stressed,
impatient lawyer who cannot function until he has had his
“Venti Carmel Macchiato with a double shot of Expresso.” The
thought that will keep you going back to a job you hate is that
the money you will make might possibly get you through one more
semester without mom and dad’s help, or that amazing and awesome
Christmas gift you can get for your significant other.
For those
of us who will have nothing to do other than sit back, relax,
watch TV, twiddle our thumbs, play video games, or watch the
clouds float by and the snow fall down, I though I might suggest
a more productive way of “wasting” your time. I am going to go
out on a limb here and encourage you to do something good for
someone this holiday season. I know that this list is not very
long at all, but I am just trying to give you a jumping off
point. Here are a few things that I have come up with:
~Contribute a gift or a toy to a local
Toys for Tots program or
an equivalent program.
~Donate food to a food pantry in your community.
~Volunteer some of your free time to a local nursing home.
~Shovel your neighbor’s snow.
~Volunteer at a local soup kitchen.
~Grab some friends and go Christmas caroling!!
~And for Heaven’s sake enjoy your younger sibling’s Christmas
pageant.
The list of selfless acts goes on and on; it just takes a little
imagination. You can also visit one of the many online
sources for volunteer programs such as the
Network for
Good site that lists volunteer programs in your specific
area.
If you want to do something for yourself
this year, do some intellectual upkeep! So many of us do not do
enough reading just for fun anymore with the overwhelming list
of books that are required for classes, so I have come up with a
list of books based on your suggestions that you might enjoy
reading over break. Here it is:
The Five People You Meet In Heaven by Mitch Albom
Recommended by Chelsea Brandt
The World According to Garp by John Irving
East of Eden by John Steinbeck
The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien
The Corrections by Jonathan Franzen
The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Klay by Michael
Chabon
Recommended by Brandon Athey
Beowulf
The Crimson Petal and the White by Michel Faber
Recommended
by Michelle Anstett
Holidays on Ice by David Sedaris
Recommended by Lindsey Markel
The Vampire Chronicles by Anne Rice
Recommended by Sarah Sherry
The Agony and the Ecstasy by Irving Stone
Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand
The Long Gray Line by Rick Atkinson
Howl and other poems by Allen Ginsberg
Recommended by Amanda Bloomer
For Whom the Bell Tolls
&
A Farewell to Arms by
Ernest Hemingway
The Hunchback of Notre Dame
by Victor Hugo
Oliver Twist, Great Expectations, David Copperfield
& A Christmas Carol
by Charles Dickens
Sense and Sensibility &
Pride and Prejudice by Jane
Austen
The Plague by Albert
Camus
The Lovely Bones by
Alice Sebold
The Cement Garden
by Ian
McEwan (creepy, incestuous, fantastic!)
Cujo by Stephen King
Snow Falling on Cedars
by David Guterson
Recommended by Karen Krautwurst
Along Came a Spider by James Patterson
The Cobra Event by Richard Preston
Recommended by Scott Hagen
Traveling Mercies by Anne Lamott
Hocus Pocus by Kurt Vonnegut
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee (read it again!)
Recommended by Kelly Winfrey
It’s a pretty long list thanks to some great English majors.
However, run to your local Barnes and Noble, buy a book, and
give yourself a treat. Whatever you do over the next few weeks
just remember to enjoy it and smile; next semester is just
around the corner.
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