Raquel Vaughn-
December is finally here! It’s the month we always anticipate when a new year rolls around, but we never see it coming. First, you’re celebrating the New Year, then you’re in the heat of summer, and then you’re enjoying family time during Thanksgiving weekend, and all of a sudden, there’s one month left. On Sunday afternoon, when my sister and I were on our way to Coffee Hag in Mankato to clock into the lock-in factory, she turned to me and excitedly announced that it was the first day of December.
I was shocked. I’m always shocked when a new month comes around, even though it happens twelve times a year. December? I was so confident that there were more days to November. Now, everything I planned to do at the beginning of the year has to fit into thirty-one days.
Before the year ends, you can finish your reading goal. If you’re like me, then you are a little bit behind. In that case, you need to start getting on that. As someone who worked ten hours every day during the summer and is heavily involved on campus with work studies, clubs, and classes, I haven’t been able to read as much as I did last year. My goal is thirty-seven, and I’m currently at twenty-four. That means, in order to reach my goal, I’ll have to read between three and four books a week! Could you do that?
Or, you could finally make that big purchase you’ve been sitting on. It’s December, which means it’s the month of the holidays. There is every reason to treat yourself this time of year. Buy yourself a Nintendo Switch, the dress you’ve always wanted, the ring you’ve been eyeing, or a new phone. I’m a little ahead of the game. I bought a new phone during the summer and upgraded from the iPhone 11 to the iPhone 14. How will you treat yourself before the year ends?
Instead of making a big purchase, you could go on a trip. Whether that be a road trip to the middle of nowhere in Iowa or an extravagant journey to Athens, you should go and be somewhere other than campus. Do this so that when someone someday asks you places you’ve been, you can say somewhere other than St. Peter. Or, thinking bigger, you can say you’ve been somewhere other than Minnesota, or even the United States.
Maybe you want something more realistic and close to home. In that case, you should binge-watch that TV show that you’ve been promising your friends you would see. With finals coming up and Winter Break just around the corner, you will have nearly no obligations or responsibilities to do school from December 17th until the first day of 2025. If it were me, I’d be finishing Shameless on Netflix. Maybe you’re like my sister and binge-watching Gilmore Girls. There are always new series coming out. And if it’s not a series, Netflix is popping out movies faster than mustard coming out of the bottle on a hot Fourth of July day. If it’s not a show, then entertain yourself with all those movies you put on your watchlist but never actually watched.
If you didn’t ride the mechanical bull during homecoming and have always wanted to, you still have time to make that happen in the year 2024. Go on a hike, go sledding, learn how to skateboard. With all this snow still on the ground, you should have something to break your fall if you happen to hit a bump.
If you missed out on the NLE Choppa concert that Gustavus hosted in April, you still have time to experience a live musical performance before the year ends! Maybe you missed Taylor Swift, Sabrina Carpenter, or even the Gravy Fest that happened a week ago in Minneapolis. If your favorite performers don’t have accessible dates for you in the next few weeks, I’m sure you can still find musical performances in your local area that you can attend!
There are so many things you can do to close out the year. Write a book (or maybe half of one), learn a new language, learn how to play an instrument, build a bed, make a blanket, run your fastest mile yet, win at Scrabble against your grandma, or get a tattoo. The year is filled with so many opportunities. We know this every time a new one rolls around. Why do we wait until the last minute to find a way to make all 365 days count? What traditions will you uphold in 2025, and which new ones will you implement? What adventures will you go on, and what things will you aspire to accomplish? You’ll learn new things every day and find a way to share them with others. Who will you meet, and what new foods will you try? Before I sound too much like a Dr. Seuss book, I’ll leave you with one question: How will you close out 2024 and will that same momentum carry over into the beginning of the new year?