When I sit awake at night in my university alotted 12 x 12 square it's usually for a number of reasons. However, lately the most prominent has been Christmas. That's right. A 19 year old college student can't get to sleep at night because he's too excited thinking about Christmas. Seriously, I'm practically doing jumping-jacks for Christmas right now.

I'm not sure what is happening here, but I know it takes an amazing force to make a grown man, (that'd be me,) listen to the Vince Guaraldi Trio's musical contribution to "It's Christmas, Charlie Brown!" on his iPod at 4 AM on a Wednesday in November, (that'd be what I'm doing.) Christmas is that amazing force. Strange, but amazing all the same.

There's something about Christmas that I love. I don't know exactly what it is and I don't know if anyone else in the world shares it with me, but Christmas controls me with a power only matched by the combined forces of Superman, The Green Lantern, and Captain Planet. I like to think that it controls everyone in this way, but if it doesn't does that mean I'm nuts? Does my heart-warming, Rockwellian view of the holiday season somehow inhibit my ability to see the world accurately?

When you think about it, Christmas makes us all do things that are a little out of the ordinary. For one, we all leave this haven we call college and spend a ridiculous amount of time with our families...on purpose. We help our mother place a fake gold wreath and electric candle in every last one of the house's windows even though we're aware that no one in the family has enjoyed them for at least 6 years. We go on a man-quest with our father to hunt and capture the perfect tree to place in our living room, (not a tree's natural habitat by the way.) When we finally wrestle the tree into position we only argue with our younger brother over whose turn it is to help mom decorate the damn thing. (If you don't experience all of these things exactly as I've described them, then you are not celebrating Christmas properly and should consult the manual.....or at least that's how I interpreted the bible.)

The crazy thing is, after all of that suffering, we'll gladly sit and mesmerizingly stare at this tree whose branches we've violated with everything from colored candy canes to painted popsicle sticks. We do this because it's not just a tree, it's a Christmas tree. It fills us with a warmth that is seen in December and dissappears for the other 11 months. Is the simple pine tree what gives Christmas it's power? If so, why doesn't the government use them to fight terrorism? That must not be the answer.

I too fell into the grasp of the Christmas monster, some time ago actually. This past winter I acted on that and decided to host a Christmas party. Not JUST a party, but the 1st Annual C-Bridge Holiday Hullabaloo. Guests would be required to wear a sweater and scarf. So my friends and I set off to decorate my basement to look something like a cross between the north pole and a dingy porn studio. It literally looked as if the 3 wisemen personally shit Christmas spirit all over the walls. The homemade "Elf Bar" was stocked with bottle after bottle of cheap whiskey and the night was set. The idea: Genius. The result: Asinine. Guests began to pour through the Christmas light lined pathway, liquor themselves up, and have an all-around holly-jolly time. The shindig got the axe when 65% of all high school students in the tri-county area showed up and my parents made it clear that a "contributing to minors" convinction was not on their holiday wish list. Bah Humbug.

Well the family cracked jokes and I swear my parents stopped loving me for at least 3 days, but you know what, I didn't care. Maybe it was the sweaters, the 12-15 drinks we all had, or the 16 year old giving lap-dances in my old lazyboy, but all of the guests felt great at that party. At the end we all parted ways happier than when we arrived and life was good. That type of dynamic just doesn't happen at a normal party. Then again...this was a Hullabaloo. A Holiday Hullabaloo.

Every year, on the day after Thanksgiving, a couple that lives across the street from me puts up an amazing display of lights. With everything from hanging snowflakes to a life-size model of Santa's workshop, this exhibit is treasured in Cambridge, Ohio. As they've aged it's gotten harder and harder to do however. As of right now, they don't do it anymore. Instead their kids do. Their grandkids do. Their friends do. They all band together every year to fight off the cold and get each of those lights up for display. It just makes them feel good. It's Christmas afterall and it's this time of year that makes those type of things feel so amazing. Sappy? Yes. True? Damn straight.

For now though, I'm going to try to fall asleep. There are only about 50 days til Christmas and I have only one thing one my wish list. Can I throw another Hullabaloo? Mom? Dad? No? Okay.