The holiday season is just around the corner. Symptoms are popping up all around us. Stores, in the eagerness to atone for several months of a tanking economy, have pulled out all the stops and are already sucking in consumers left and right with shiny red and green colors.
If there's one thing that makes the bitterly cold days that start while it's still dark a little more bearable, it's some seasonal decorations. And let's be honest, we could all use a little bit of a pick-me-up these days. All the girls on campus have just enjoyed their first full day of continual judgment shrouded by doubt and insecurity this past weekend. Apparently, according to some Hustler sorority advice, if your collective outfit is under $500, then you're not fit for any self-respecting group of superficial friends.

After a highly divisive election stretch, we need something to bond over, like Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving is the culmination of the American spirit: football, gluttonous eating and oppression of native minorities. But the true satisfaction of Thanksgiving comes from not having to give gifts. You know the time for that is right around the corner, and it's more than likely around that time I'll have another pointless article about “good gift ideas,” which would in reality equate to the gift of teenage pregnancy. But for now, the focus is just on gathering around family, spending time together and passing out in the afternoon. Few times can match the nationwide family focus of Thanksgiving and Christmas.

I feel tradition and holiday ritual are vital during these times: There's no need to tamper with perfection. If your family doesn't have strong traditions, then I imagine this is very depressing. I would suggest it is time to take matters into your own hands: try starting up some of your own traditions that are not too intricate but are at the same time unique. For example, do a turkey treasure hunt, where bits of the turkey are hidden throughout various nooks of the house. It makes the meal that much more fulfilling when you eat it off the floor. Alternatively, instead of eating pumpkin pie or helping a charity, try throwing pies at the homeless. Or you could just find a new family that knows how to be American. The beauty of tradition is there are no surprises. Everyone has been assigned an understood role. Each girl has her own special Thanksgiving or Christmas dish she is responsible for cooking and each guy has his own chair, bean bag or couch he must guard and occupy for the duration of the day. Another trait that adds to the glory of Thanksgiving is that despite the difficulty of leaving vacation behind, there are only a few weeks of agonizingly stressful study before the next mini-vacation begins.

So gather up some courage and throw out the pumpkin that has caused bacteria to begin spreading over your carpet and start trying to find out what in the world a cornucopia looks like and why anyone would get one.

Justin Poythress is a senior in Peabody College. He can be reached at j.poythress@vanderbilt.edu.