It’s never too early for Christmas

The summer is dead, Halloween is over. Bonfire night has been and gone. When it’s pitch black as you walk out of your 5pm lecture, you know one thing; it’s nearly Christmas time.

It might only be November, but there’s no denying the Christmas season is here. Not only are Starbucks serving Gingerbread Lattes, they’re serving them in red cups with a host of other Christmas themed drinks. Every time you go to Asda you have to negotiate your way through towers of selection boxes and advent calendars, stop yourself buying an entire cheese board, and walk past stacks of wrapping paper in order to get to the normal, non-seasonal food. We’ve hit Christmas season – it really is Christmas every day.

Walking in a Winter Wonderland

Hi, MTV, welcome to my Christmas crib

But rather than shun this hallowed season, why not embrace an extra month of Christmas cheer? It can lighten up our dreary life no end. Christmas decorations are the student house saviour. Cover up that damp and mould with tinsel and decorations. Make use of your printer credits by turning that reading you never did into paper snowflakes. No student house is complete without fairy lights (battery powered, of course, because you want to keep the energy bills low) and celebrating Christmas early just gives you the chance to have them on at all hours.

Use the corner with the Christmas tree to hide mess and create a focal point to the room, away from the peeling wall paper and general dinginess of your student house. The longer you have your decorations up, the less you have to think about the unnecessary amount of money you are spending on the hellhole you live in. Christmas makes everything better.

You can never have too many Christmas dinners

Plus with Asda going Christmas crazy, your favourite festive snacks are spilling out of their shelves and they’re always on offer. Fuel your early revision (or last minute essay writing) with the abundance of Christmas themed chocolate and cakes. Christmas is a time to eat as much chocolate as you like without feeling guilty about it, so why not celebrate it in November and give yourself an extra month of guilt-free chocolate binging?

The same goes for alcohol. Stock up on the gin, Baileys and sparkling wine, and drink as much Christmas “spirit” as you like. Don’t think about the extra calories. Christmas fashion is perfect for hiding those extra pounds: pull on your Santa Christmas jumper. Layers are your friend. So is chocolate. Embrace the Christmas season early, and let yourself indulge.

The Christmas songs  playing in all the shops might have an uncanny ability to get stuck in your head, but don’t fight it. Walk to your lectures whistling Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree. Hum All I Want For Christmas as you get the 699 home after a hellish lecture. The shops have already started playing them, you can’t avoid them, so just go with it. Bring the spirit of joy to the misery of Smithdown. Find someone to duet Baby, It’s Cold Outside after a night out.  Sing Santa Baby to drop hints to your flat mates about what you want as a secret Santa gift. Change every song in your playlist to Christmas songs, and feel nostalgic for a whole extra month.

Don’t want to turn on the heating? Wear a Christmas Jumper instead.

The only thing keeping you going during the winter months is the thought of your mother’s Christmas dinner. We all love to hate it, but Christmas is still the best time of the year. By starting Christmas early, you give yourself just that little bit longer to be excited about something, rather than dreading exams and deadlines. Deck the halls, hang the stockings, stock up on chocolate reindeer – Christmas is back.