image by Nate Stewart
Christmas wasn’t part of the Covenant College experience last year. With students going home at Thanksgiving and not returning until the end of January, Christmas celebrations were nonexistent. As a result, this is the first Covenant Christmas for not just one, but two classes of students who are getting to experience the holidays on campus and all the excitement that comes with them.
As a result, there are a number of traditions and celebrations that half the campus gets to revisit, and the other half have the privilege of experiencing for the first time. In the lead-up to finals week, everyone gets a chance to celebrate the end of the semester and the beginning of the holiday season.
Halls decorated, a Darth Vader wielding a candy cane appeared in the Great Hall, and Christmas hymns were sung in the chapel. Snowflakes created by eager volunteers were hung from the ceilings, and Christmas trees showed up in Mac.
Tacy Snyder, an RA of Jungle hall, voiced her love for her favorite events of the season: Falalala Founders and the Christmas concerts. “Falalala founders is really fun with the ice skating.” Large sheets of plastic taped to the 3rd lobby floor and socks made for a brilliant impromptu ice rink. “Also the opportunity to sing Christmas carols and have the whole advent season.” Camille Gough, a sophomore celebrating for the first time, agrees: “[the best tradition] is my building’s tradition of Falalala founders. Our party was pretty great.”
image by Nate Stewart
The large-scale festivities were kickstarted with Carter Christmas. Halls in Carter got a chance to show off their creativity and festive cheer by putting up immersive themed decorations and conducting tours. Starring, among many other things, a large crab, a frighteningly accurate recreation of McDonald’s playplace, and clever renditions of classic Christmas films, the event was a huge hit. Students lined up down the porch stairs to wait their turn to tour the building and explore the halls.
“Carter Christmas is a chance for each hall to work together to be creative. For me, the most memorable parts of the event are the setting up and tearing down, those moments with my hallmates are precious to me,” Elsie Corbett ‘23 said.
The week of Dec. 5 is full of the final round of Christmas celebrations before finals. With Mistletoe Mingle on the 8, the Be Ye Glad Christmas Concert on the 9 and 10, and a Harry Potter themed exam cram on the 13, students have a chance to party before they begin the season of finals. Hannah Acker said she’s looking forward to Mistletoe Mingle the most this year. “That’s the big one. I loved it. I think it’s the best dance of all,” she said.
But, in many ways, this is only an overture. After finals, students will get to celebrate Christmas for real, revisiting their own traditions, Christmas food and music, and a chance to remember and celebrate the birth of Christ.