Oh, holidays. Every single one has those who love it and those who despise it, trying to distract themselves on that day to avoid getting involved with anything holiday-related. And from all the people I’ve had brief conversations with, these preferences vary quite significantly from person to person.

As for me? This is where I stand on each of these well known and commonly celebrated holidays.

1. Halloween

When it comes to Halloween, I’m a little biased. Or a lot biased. Halloween is my all-time favorite holiday. To me, it’s about spending time with close friends and not caring about anything and being obnoxious at three o’clock in the morning watching movies in your friend’s basement while dressed in a cow costume. Just me? Okay.

It’s such a creative holiday, and I feel it transitions well from age group to age group. When everyone was five years old, everyone loved Halloween. It has so many good parts to it that you’re able to enjoy it every year — from collecting candy as a toddler to dressing up as your favorite book characters as a child to spending time with friends when you’re a bit older. It evolves with you but always proves to be a good time.

I would rate Halloween a 10/10, and no, you can’t argue with me on this one.

2. Christmas

I’m starting off with one of the biggest and most loved holidays in history. The way people wait for this holiday is incredible to me — starting their morning radio Christmas tunes well before there’s snow on the ground, buying 16 different gingerbread houses on Amazon to make the greatest gingerbread mansion ever known to mankind, and decorating their homes and front yards with so many lights, you crash your car while driving passed their house.

Being a cliche human being, I also adore Christmas. I feel like it used to be a lot grander when I was a child, but the way the world has continued to increase in turning Christmas into a commercial holiday has prompted many families to do the exact opposite, making the day more mild and peaceful. This has been refreshing for me.

Though giving the right gifts kind of stresses me out, people’s overall sense of constant gratitude (in regards to both gifts and quality time) and cheer around Christmas is always something to look forward to. I love walking down the street and seeing random people smiling. I love seeing drivers becoming more forgiving of others on the roads. I love seeing charity and empathy increase. And most importantly… I love the smell of Christmas. It’s cliche, I know. But if my house could smell like Christmas all year round, I’d be in heaven.

I would probably rate Christmas a 9/10.

3. Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving often gets overlooked due to its close proximity to Christmas. And since Christmas tends to be a more commercialized holiday, Thanksgiving can be ignored — not that it always is, it simply can be.

For me, Thanksgiving is really centralized around family. It’s warm and cozy and focused on quality time. I also personally enjoy cooking, so spending all day making food is seriously one of my favorite things to do.

Thanksgiving also carries my all time favorite holiday colors. The warm browns and scarlet reds are so beautiful. They remind me of essential oils for some reason…? Yeah, I’m not really sure why.

I’ve nearly always spent Thanksgiving at home, so the memories I have from those days are particularly special to me.

And the smell of Thanksgiving — oh my gosh. No one can deny that if they could bundle Thanksgiving scents into a candle, they’d burn it all day long. No one can deny that.

My rating for Thanksgiving would probably be an 8/10.

4. New Year’s Eve

I think New Year’s Eve is a refreshing concept, and the holiday itself represents making changes in how you treat yourself and others. New Year’s Eve gives you a chance to change things within yourself that you feel need changing.

It also gives everyone a boost of energy and motivation. When I go back to the semester after New Year’s Eve, I always feel rejuvenated, organized with resolutions and ideas, and prepared to work hard. And since many people are feeling the same way, it gives you a chance to recognize the overall positive feel of your community, household, and school environments.

The only downside I feel correlates with New Year’s Eve is its tendency to put pressure on people. That’s unfortunate because reinventing yourself during a new year is a very personal thing. I disagree with it being put on for show in conversations and on social media.

With all that said, I would rate New Year’s Eve a solid 7 or 7.5/10.

5. Valentine’s Day

Please keep in mind that literally everything commented on about Valentine’s Day in this section is coming out of the mouth of a single (and sour about that) person. Just know that. 

I fully understand that Valentine’s Day can be used to celebrate the love you have for your friends and family, not just a significant other. But I think it’s the way others react on this holiday that’s always bothered me. I think you know what I mean… so I’m not going to go into great detail.

It’s a little confusing to me because it seems like this holiday lacks a lot of privacy and individuality. In my opinion, celebrating a relationship you have with another person is a little more meaningful when it’s done on your anniversary or something similar, not on the day that everyone else is celebrating their relationship too. That just seems a little awkward to me.

Also — not that this really matters — but the colors for Valentine’s Day are just… they’re so bad. Most holiday colors clash or are opposite from each other on the color wheel due to the attraction they gain in stores and decorations, and the marketing tactics involved with opposite colors. But pink and red? Come on.

I apologize to all the couples out there, but my rating for Valentine’s Day is a 6/10.

I know I didn’t do very many holidays in this article, but if I were to write about every single one, I’d end up having a couple paragraphs of commentary on holidays like Stuffed Green Bell Peppers Day and National Watermelon Day. Yes, those are actual holidays. And I now have them marked as notifications on my Google calendar so that I can celebrate them this year.

We at The Mav hope you enjoy your favorite holidays in 2021!