UC Davis students share how the act of decorating for the holidays creates cozy memories and fosters a feeling of togetherness
BY JULIE HUANG – arts@theaggie.org
The holiday season is a time for rest and reflection as people celebrate with their loved ones and hold close the things that are dear to them. People often choose to showcase their holiday spirit by putting up decor, which can evoke childhood memories, uplift darker moods and give families something positive to look forward to each season, according to HuffPost.
Amidst an array of festive decor, the Christmas tree looms large in American culture as an iconic symbol of the winter holiday season; though not everyone participates in Christmas or its traditions. Seasonal winter decorations take on a variety of forms, reflecting the numerous holidays that people celebrate as the year nears its end.
Vanya Malhotra, a second-year animal sciences major, recalled her family’s informal attitude toward installing seasonal decor.
“It’s mainly my mom and I who put decor up, but I do wrangle my brother into it,” Malhotra said. “We put up a tree and ornaments, and it’s a casual thing.”
Despite the laid-back atmosphere in Malhotra’s home, the act of decorating retains a touch of personal charm and satisfaction for her family.
“We have a very old fireplace that we installed when my parents built the house, and my dad takes pride in it,” Malhotra said. “We’ll decorate the fireplace and put lanterns and little figurines on it.”
Ava Pelkey, a third-year environmental policy analysis and planning major, explained that, due to her family’s German background, they primarily celebrate Christmas on Dec. 24 rather than Dec. 25. Pelkey noted that this has uniquely shaped her memories of the holiday experience.
“Growing up, we would always have presents and family time on Christmas Eve, and then in the morning, we would find Santa’s presents,” Pelkey said. “My aunt always gets us these handmade countdown calendars, and I always have it up, even though my countdown’s slightly different from other people that I know.”
The transition from family life to college can include many changes, but the holiday season provides a throughline for festive traditions to be remembered and upheld, or even increased, according to Malhotra.
“Growing up, celebrating the holidays wasn’t much of a big deal in my household, so I like to make it my mission to make it a big deal in college,” Malhotra said.
Not everyone chooses to continue participating in the holiday activities that they participated in as children, however. Thanh Nguyen, a third-year English major, shared that his interest in putting up festive decor has decreased over time.
“I’ve found less appeal in celebrating Christmas or any holiday as I get older,” Nguyen said. “I go back home for the holidays, and I see no point in putting up a tree that I won’t see for most of December.”
Some of the considerations that go into choosing not to put up holiday decorations come from time and financial constraints, according to Nguyen.
“I find it a hassle and a financial burden to purchase seasonal holiday decorations,” Nguyen said. “At most, I will buy a small table decoration that I can reuse for years.”
The association of Christmas decorating with childhood experiences may mean the reduction of festive involvement in college, but it also presents an opportunity to reminisce about the warm memories made at home, according to Malhotra.
“A bunch of [my family’s] ornaments are probably more than 10 years old, because there are a lot that my brother and I made when we were in preschool and kindergarten,” Malhotra said. “My mom kept those — even the really badly painted wooden-stick ones.”
Pelkey explained how hand-made ornaments often serve as reminders of family milestones worth celebrating, such as a child reaching a certain age.
“Decorating is an opportunity to come together,” Pelkey said. “For example, you’re unboxing the ornaments for the Christmas tree, and a lot of them are ones that you made as kids. It brings back a lot of memories, and you get to talk about it with whoever’s decorating with you: usually siblings and family.”
For those who choose to decorate a Christmas tree, each collection of ornaments is personalized. The finished tree with all its decorations becomes just as personal — even irreplaceable, according to Malhotra.
“We have ornaments ranging from years ago to freshly brand new ones, and then we put them all on the same tree every single year,” Malhotra said.
Pelkey shared a similar sentiment, noting that the assortment of ornaments unique to each household becomes a reflection of the people it belongs to and their experiences and loved ones.
“They become heirlooms of a sort, because individual ornaments remind me of certain people or whoever gave them to us,” Pelkey said. “Just knowing the story behind each and every ornament is really cool, because you get to have this tree full of meaning.”
In addition to its symbolic meaning, the physical act of decorating also encourages togetherness — with people crowding the tree and contributing to the group effort of putting up decorations.
“When we prepare the tree, all hands are on deck,” Nguyen said. “Even my parents, who are often busy, end up getting caught up in decorating.”
The beauty of the ornaments, lights and baubles provide another layer to the benefits of decorating, according to Pelkey; handling them often becomes a sensory experience, shared with others in the household.
“As a family, we would put tinsel on the tree, which not everyone does,” Pelkey said. “The tinsel is really fun because it involves shiny plastic everywhere, and it’s nice to find the tinsel around the house weeks later.”
The true magic of festive decor flourishes in the presence of others, according to Malhotra.
“I feel grateful when I’m decorating,” Malhotra said. “It reminds me of Christmas mornings, and how my mom would always put little things under the tree. It could have been the smallest piece of candy for all I cared. Whatever it was, my brother and I would always be so excited.”
Paired with cozy memories, participating in holiday decorating traditions serves as a way for students to easily access the optimism and cheerfulness that permeate the winter holiday season, according to Nguyen.
“There’s a warm and hopeful feeling associated with holiday decor,” Nguyen said. “It indicates a shift into a time of year that highlights community and camaraderie through simple acts of love and gift-giving.”
Written by: Julie Huang — arts@theaggie.org
