Christmas is known to some as the happiest time of the year.
Streets are filled with Christmas lights and music that fills people with joy. But for one University of Idaho student, the holiday does not bring much merriment.
Mitch Williams appears to be an average 20-year-old college student. He spends most of his time studying or hanging out with his friends. He spends his weekends working on film projects or playing games. When it comes to Christmas, however, he differs from most.
“I started disliking Christmas music … but it was only around 15 that I realized there was a word for this — it’s called ‘hate,’” Williams said.
Diamond Koloski | Argonaut
Junior Mitch Williams is fed up with Christmas music and the length of the holiday season in his typically undecorated home on Tuesday night.
One of the biggest reasons for his dislike of Christmas is the music.
“It is the kind of slow, simple songs. Happy, yeah, but you hear the same ones every year until you die. Why don’t you do anything different?” Williams said.
Williams said he is annoyed by how early Christmas carols start playing in the year, some even playing before Thanksgiving.
Music is not the only thing that ruins this time of year for him. Williams said he also doesn’t appreciate that Christmas lasts an entire season.
“If I could change the amount of time we celebrated Christmas I would keep it to three days maximum,” Williams said.
Williams said he prefers how people celebrate Halloween. Decorations and costumes last in stores for about a month, and then after Halloween everything immediately goes away.
“If it lasted a maximum five or 10 days I would be fine, but it doesn’t,” Williams said. “It starts way before Thanksgiving and I have to be blasted with it until I stop caring.”
Williams said it doesn’t help that he is not the best at buying gifts for others.
“You’re supposed to know your friends on a real personal level and I do,” Williams said. “For me, it just doesn’t transfer into a physical gift.”
He loves to make people happy, but he said he feels like his gifts can never stand up to the ones given to him. This makes it hard for him to find the perfect gift for friends.
Even though Williams doesn’t enjoy the build up to the holiday, he said he loves the actual day of Christmas. He said he loves waking up and spending the morning with his family opening their presents.
“I would stay up Dec. 23 all night and then all day Dec. 24 so that I would be completely exhausted that night and could actually sleep,” Williams said.
Williams said he would rather have the holiday focus on family instead of overplayed songs and tasteless marketing.
The core of the Christmas season is what gives him his happiest memories, he said, not the twinkling lights or the soft tones of “Silver Bells” playing over mall speakers.
Griffen Winget can be reached at [email protected]