Because someone has to advocate that the end of Daylight Saving Time should be a celebrated holiday, and I guess that person is me.
- Election Day
I cannot stress this enough: Vote in the 2020 presidential election. Your vote matters! Plus, watching the map of U.S. states get filled in blue or red always gives me a rush. You can’t beat the feeling of watching your rights get compromised, am I right?
- New Year’s Eve
New Year’s Eve is almost always a bit of a letdown. You and your friends get together to watch the ball drop, and then when it does, what are you supposed to do next? Plus, thanks to Mariah Carey’s flop of a performance in 2016, I can no longer watch the New Year’s Eve Ball Drop performances without cringing.
- Groundhog Day
Groundhog Day is just cute. If the groundhog doesn’t see his shadow, that’s great. If he does, that’s also great. It’s unoffensive and celebrates UR’s local groundbois. What more could you ask for?
- Halloween
Much like New Year’s Eve, Halloween gets a lot of hype that the day itself almost never lives up to. It’s hard to plan a costume when your mom isn’t picking it out for you, and you have to decide if you want to be scary or sexy. God forbid you pick something funny, and no one understands your costume. So what if we just stopped after Halloween day? Ask yourself: Does the frenzy of Halloweekend fill the Halloween-shaped hole in your heart carved out from the memories of Halloween in elementary school?
- Thanksgiving
For UR students who head home, Thanksgiving is a five-day break from the blustering winds of Rochester. Mounds of mashed potatoes, a succulent turkey, and most importantly — the best pie of them all — pumpkin pie. Plus, it signifies the start of the Christmas season, usually in the form of planning your Christmas wish list (a.k.a. budgeting your last few paychecks to “treat yo’ self” at the end of the year).
- Juneteenth
Juneteenth began on June 19, 1865, when many Texans and Texan slaves were first made aware of the Emancipation Proclamation, which had legally freed all of the slaves over two years prior. The holiday represents the long struggle for African-American freedom from enslavement even after emancipation. It has been over 150 years since the first Juneteenth, but most people still view the holiday as distinctly African-American. But this just perpetuates the mindset that there are two separate Americas: one black and one white. Let’s take some time this June 19 to educate ourselves, because Juneteenth deserves it.
- Valentine’s Day
Valentine’s Day manages to combine two of my favorite things: eating candy and appreciating the people around me. On no other day of the year is it socially acceptable for me to eat entire boxes of conversation hearts, so I take what I can get.
- Black Friday
It’s time to “treat yo’ self” because literally everything is on sale. Even if the sale isn’t that good, it’s still on sale. Sur la Table wants to charge me $600 for this coffee machine on Wednesday? Well, on Friday it’s a mere $450. Pocket change!
- Daylight Saving Time ends
Everyone gets an extra hour of sleep (unless they live in Arizona or Hawaii, sorry). Not to mention an extra hour of sleep. Did I mention you get to sleep for an extra hour?
- Christmas Day
As the most widely celebrated holiday in the U.S. and the day I get presents, Christmas must be the best holiday. It’s got gingerbread houses, tree decorating, scented pinecones, string lights, eggnog, and fondue (or maybe that’s just my family). Plus watching 1954’s White Christmas at the end of the day with my family all smashed on one couch. Christmas is chaotic good.
Honorable Mentions:
Independence Day: The fireworks scare my cat. It’s a jerk move to scare an innocent cat.
Easter: I don’t know. The eggs just don’t do it for me.
April Fool’s Day: I don’t like the fear that surrounds me on April Fool’s. It mocks me.
St. Patrick’s Day: Teens don’t need another excuse to get day drunk. At UR, we already have D-Day.
Lincoln’s Birthday: I like him, but a lot of other people don’t. I feel the effects of peer pressure.
Christmas Eve: It’s basically the same as Christmas, except I’m stressed about wrapping my presents on time.
