How to celebrate the Christmas break with kindness to yourself and others
It’s the last week of classes, and I’m sure you’re already thinking, “What am I going to do with all this free time over the holidays?” The perfect blend of university burnout and COVID-19 isolation will surely leave you with ample time and energy to learn to play the drums or begin a rare stamp collection. But please, before you dive into your long list of holiday habits, allow me to provide you with a more realistic approach to the winter holidays.
You might have a million things to do that you’ve been putting off for months, or you might have one item on your list and one item only: to binge-watch as many Netflix shows as possible. Regardless of your plans over the break, I would encourage you, in all seriousness, to bring some smiles to people’s faces.
Okay, I realize that sounds like a cheesy cliché. Before you roll your eyes and go back to your midnight study session for finals, take a look at some ideas on how to do small, kind things for others:
- Send Christmas cards to senior citizens in care homes (and your grandparents).
- Support local businesses or artists for some of your Christmas shopping. Check out Abbotsford’s Ten Thousand Villages shop, Dufferin Games, or Chilliwack’s Creekside Home Decor.
- When it snows, shovel someone’s driveway.
- Foster an animal from a shelter like the SPCA, and give some love to a furry friend. You can foster for a few days, weeks, or months, depending on what works for you and the animal!
- Go grocery shopping for a senior or someone you know who cannot shop.
- Volunteer at the MCSS Christmas Bureau, Abbotsford Food Bank, Chilliwack’s Salvation Army, or your local place of worship.
- Tell some corny jokes to your friends. There’s a chance they won’t consider this a “kindness,” but it’s a risk you’ll have to take.
Sometimes, though, the person who needs that holiday spirit the most is yourself. You’ve adjusted to an online semester, and you’ve worked hard to get where you are. Give yourself a pat on the back, and maybe try some of these ideas:
- Be nice to yourself. If you found yourself overwhelmed with online classes or frustrated with COVID-19, you’re not alone. You deserve a break from school. Be kind to yourself over the holidays.
- Try some origami Christmas crafts.
- Get outside! Go hiking, walking, skiing, snowshoeing, winter camping, skating, or sledding. Whew! Make sure you get a few snowball fights in there, while you’re at it.
- Rest physically and mentally. Over the break, you may have the time to relax and watch all the Home Alone movies. Or you may be working customer service every day until school starts back up again. No matter what, make sure you get a sufficient amount of sleep, make art, journal, play music, or carve out time to be refreshed.
- Go for a Christmas lights drive. You can drive around your neighbourhood or go to Glow Gardens in Langley and Southside Church in Chilliwack. They have COVID-19-safe, drive-through light displays during December.
- Try some new recipes. Check out The Cascade Kitchen column for student-friendly recipes like peach crisp, hummus, quinoa pizza bites, or coconut curry pasta.
- Check out this enormous list of free and fun online resources, which includes virtual tours, music sites, and skill development. You can tour Venice or watch a kitten sanctuary livestream through the site links! This list was compiled in March, so not all the links may work.
The holidays are going to look a little different this year, but you can still brighten someone’s day — or your own. Enjoy these last days of class, good luck with your final exams, and please, have a fantastic break.
See you in the new year!
(Elyssa English/The Cascade)
Danaye studies English and procrastination at UFV and is very passionate about the Oxford comma. She spends her days walking to campus from the free parking zones, writing novels she'll never finish, and pretending to know how to pronounce abominable. Once she graduates, she plans to adopt a cat.
