Christmas Spirit & “The 5 Days of Red”

Christmas is the most wonderful time of the year–no I’m not quoting a song! It’s just amazing. People generally seem happier and kinder. Also, for those of you who are in college, grad school, or work at a college the Christmas season means the end of the fall semester. This leads to twice the excitement, Christmas & time away from school. For me, this year, I’m feeling three times as excited as I normally would. Not only do I love Christmas, I work at a college and I’m in graduate school. The semester ended simultaneously this week at work and school and I started to let my Christmas spirit show full force by celebrating “The 5 Days of Red”. The 5 Days of Red is something I made up to celebrate the end of the semester, to be festive, to stay in a positive mood even if work and school became stressful, and to simply have fun. I celebrated The 5 Days of Red last year but I wasn’t very forward with the idea like I was this year. This year I may have been obnoxious about it but my intentions were sincere. I simply wanted to spread Christmas joy to everyone I encountered!

“The 5 Days of Red” defined: The final week of the fall semester, often referred to as “finals week”. For individuals who do not work in higher education, The 5 Days of Red can be celebrated during the last full (5 day) work week before Christmas. Wearing a noticeable amount of RED each of the 5 days is required! The more red the better! Limited amounts of red, such as red socks that can’t be seen will not satisfy the requirement. You may also wear Christmas themed clothing if it features the color RED in some way! Hair bows, ribbons, sparkly soul headbands, glitter, and Christmas jewelry are encouraged, but not required.

To recap my 5 Days of Red, I felt happier overall. I felt spirited, joyous, and excited. Work was chaotic this week, I had a final on Wednesday, I haven’t been feeling 100% healthy, but I certainly did feel festive!! The 5 Days of Red really made a positive impact on my daily happiness! I think the spirit and joy that I was radiating from celebrating The 5 Days of Red effected the people around me. Even though I dealt with some unpleasant people this week the majority of my interactions were positive. I’m actually sad the 5 Days of Red is over.

I have 2 days of work next week and I’m contemplating the idea of “The 2 Days of Green”. Thoughts?

Also, I’m including a bonus list of spirit enhancing Christmas activities:
1. Bake Christmas cookies
2. Sing Christmas carols/songs
3. Make paper snowflakes
4. Sip hot chocolate and go for a walk while looking at Christmas lights
5. Watch Christmas movies
6. Throw a Christmas party
7. Attend a Christmas party
8. Make your own decorations
9. Read Christmas stories
10. Celebrate “The 5 Days of Red”!!!!