Colette Potter ’26
Opinions Writer
December is one of my favorite times of the year on campus. Lessons and Carols is a particular favorite of mine, but I also think hot chocolate study breaks and late nights at Dinand are oddly nice (considering it is finals season). I love the first snow of the school year, the bite in the air, and the feeling of being almost done with a long semester.
However, I do have some notes for whomever makes the decorating decisions for our dear campus: please, for the love of Christmas, switch out the lights. The blue-tinted lights are absolutely horrible. They should be thrown in the dumpster…immediately. I don’t even think they are worthy of donation. Absolutely horrible. Downright vile. Completely wrong. December on a windy hill in Massachusetts has the possibility of being quite cozy, yet the color of the lights reminds me more of a hospital, or perhaps the big light shining on you at the dentist. Christmas lights, as a general rule of thumb, should be a warm white. It is of the utmost importance. The warm lights (though they also cannot be orange toned), are the foundations of good Christmas decorations. They provide the warm glow you need to illuminate garlands and greenery. The color of the lights is all wrong. I will still attend the Christmas Tree Lighting festivities, but my enthusiasm will be dampened by the very fact that the color lights are all wrong.
Another major suggestion I have is to put some lights on the big pine tree outside of Fenwick. Everyone thinks it is the bigger tree that will be lit up, and everyone is inevitably looking in the wrong direction when the lights flip on.
Despite my very firm belief that Holy Cross desperately needs to invest in the far superior and only acceptable choice of warm white lights, I also would like to commend the other decorations at Holy Cross. I actually very much appreciate the fact that Holy Cross, as a Catholic school, does make a very good effort to decorate for Christmas. I love the wreath on the O’Kane Porch, the Tree Lighting Ceremony (except for, of course, the tone of lights), and I especially love the Advent wreath ribbons in the Chapel. I think it is a beautiful background to the drudge of finals studying, and I only hope a little snow can accompany it soon.
While I cannot resist a bit of light(s) criticism, I would like to list out a “best of” list of Holy Cross in December in an effort to be less-Scrooge and more merry. I think Lessons and Carols is brilliant. I like Late Night Breakfast over the holidays, the Christmas parties, the lights in the dorm room windows, and the Campion’s Christmas themed cookies. I also appreciate the ways to give back: dining dollar donations, clothing drives, and toy and food collections. I find that Holy Cross balances the holiday spirit well, with an equal focus on our community and holiday cheer. I think the balance Holy Cross has for the holiday season is perhaps the best of Holy Cross: a lot of studying, spirit, and a sense of giving back (or dare I say being for and with others). In my own giving spirit, that is my attempt to not just complain about what I think Holy Cross does wrong, but to also highlight all that Holy Cross does right. And that’s about as merry as I get.
Featured image courtesy of Jaden Stainforth ’27
Copy Edited by Lily Wasmund
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