It’s the week before finals, most of us have been zoomed out after 12 weeks of online classes, especially me. This semester I took 7 classes while also being an editor for two news desks with USC Annenberg Media on top of living through the pandemic and this crazy election year.
It’s been a lot.
But as I stay up late working on assignments and scrolling through my student email inbox, there is one thing that helps me push through:
[Intro to “All I Want For Christmas is You” by Mariah Carey]
I have been listening to Christmas music heavily these past few days, and while the holidays may look a little different this year, the loving and nostalgic memories this music brings remain constant.
I spoke to my mom who had this to say about the holiday music:
Kathy Rojas: I usually start listening early because it really helps me get into the Christmas spirit and I’m beginning to see the Hallmark Channel. It’s all about Christmas. Christmas movies, it really lifts my spirits high especially right now with the pandemic going on and you know all the negativity but this helps me think positive and be cheerful.
My cousin Lauren shares her sentiment about the genre and its meaning.
Lauren Guillen: I think honestly it brings the family together even though throughout the year you are apart and you are living your own life, but that’s the one day or two days you have that it really makes a difference. But Christmas music is at the dinner table and it’s blasting loud all the time and it’s the best. I love Christmas music.
The music has even reached family members who don’t typically care too much about the genre. My brother-in-law Samuel is one of them.
Samual Tafolla: Yes, I started listening to Christmas music on November 5th or 6th the day that Kost transitioned over to Christmas music. Believe it or not, it’s the first time I catch it at its transition at 8 a.m. and I was driving and I even stayed in the car when I got to work. I was excited it was the first time and being the current situation that’s going on, I was looking forward to it, and ever since then, I’ve been in the Christmas spirit which has been something new to me. I get into it but for some reason, I’m like more excited for Christmas this year than I have than any other year.
My favorite Christmas song has always been “Happy Xmas (War is Over)” by John Lennon and Yoko Ono with a chorus of children. So much of that song embodies what I feel some of us have been feeling this year with the loss of loved ones and work because of the pandemic as well as the social injustices we’ve been witnessing especially over the summer.
It’s about togetherness in the face of adversity, which is what I think Christmas music and the holidays are all about.
[Intro and chorus of “Happy Xmas (War is Over)” by John Lennon and Yoko Ono]