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Exclusives: Comparative Life December
19, 2001: By Kristen Albertsen
'02 Walking across campus
in the paradoxically balmy winter dusk one evening last week, I
was struck by a familiar tune that tinkled through the darkening
mist. Up, or perhaps down, from a remote corner of campus came the
merrily raucous sounds of Jingle Bell Rock; I soon saw that the
music was caroling forth from a radio attached to the handlebars
of a festive student biker. It increased in urgency as the biker
approached me, and then, as mysteriously as it had come, it was
swept away again. This ersatz Santa and sleigh had brought what
he could of the holidays to campus; and in its slightly surreal
nature, his gesture embodied what it is to celebrate the month of
December at Princeton. What is it like, the
holiday season at Princeton? It is a mixture of anxiety and excitement,
of exhaustion and energy. Unlike most other universities, the term
closes in December not with exams but with classes, albeit with
a good handful of papers, projects, and problem sets. People are
simply tired out. Freshman roommates have begun to frustrate and
annoy one another; junior JPs and senior theses have begun to weigh
heavily. Social events culminated with the Winter Formals of last
weekend, and everyone, be they dining hall or eating club diners,
wants some good home cooking and an easily accessible laundry machine.
Even though everyone remarks how brief the time is between the Thanksgiving
and Christmas holidays, it's really some of the longest three weeks
of the semester. However, these three
weeks are long in part because there is so much on campus to do
during the holiday season. The past few weeks have seen Christmas
wreaths and lights decorate eating clubs and dorms alike, and personal
menorahs distributed to all the Hillel students on campus. Departments
and organizations are throwing holiday parties; Whig-Clio sponsored
its annual holiday banquet, and the a cappella groups convened for
their seasonal holiday arch sing and post-arch Jingle Ball. My email
box has been filled with notices of toy and food drives, as well
as the more frivolous suggestions of Secret Santa gift exchanges.
The large Christmas tree has been lit in Palmer Square (hardly Rockefeller
Center, but pretty and festive all the same), and the modernist
menorah has been lit in front of the Center for Jewish Life. Frist
Campus Center sponsored a three-day holiday festival, which featured
(very) yummy holiday goodies from all around the world, international
holiday music, story-telling, performances, and games. Needless to say, it's
been fun, and a wonderful relief from the end-of-the-semester grind.
And yet, despite Princeton's efforts, it will never really seem
to me like the holidays here on campus. I need the snow that (hopefully!)
surrounds my home in Connecticut, the dark frosty evenings warmed
by the (electric) candles glowing in the windows of my home. I need
the profusely shedding pine tree surrounded by the colorfully tooting,
and sometimes derailing, model train. I need the wood stove and
my mom's traditional holiday banana bread (not that it's particularly
good, but it's tradition). In short, I need my New England Christmas,
and most of all I need my family to celebrate it with me. "Jingle
Bell Rock" jamming from a bicycle is fun and crazy, but I'm
ready for a Silent Night in my home. Kristen Albertsen is a comparative literature major and can be reached at albertsn@princeton.edu
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