Well boys and girls, it’s that time of year again; time for people to give thanks and simultaneously complain that Christmas music is already on the radio. Many of you have started contemplating how many classes you can skip in order to go home early for break, how very thankful you must be for your education.

I went to Davison to sign up for the yearly gingerbread house building competition, it took me a little while to hobble down from my hut in the woods, and by the time I got there all the team slots were full! They didn’t save one for dear ol’ Maude. It is probably for the best. I am old and feeble and you youngsters push and knock into each other to get supplies that you don’t even need. You simply just don’t want another group to have it! You have spirit, I will give you that; Christmas spirit however, I’m not sure.

This competition turns the dining hall into the first hour of black Friday shopping. You all will run people over, elbow and push you way just to get that last bit of frosting. In Walmart on black Friday there have been shootings over toasters, what is next for here? Brass knuckles for jelly beans? The holiday spirit has sure changed since I was a kid.

You all storm the front table, and when one of the nice Davison workers tells you the pretzel sticks are gone, the suddenly become the devil who doesn’t want you to win the ginger bread house building contest. You race back to your tables and plot with the rest of the group which table seems the easiest to rob. Oh, it is all in good fun but the rage that sets in when someone else has the same idea as you, is very real.

It seems so ironic that a holiday meant for reflection and being thankful has turned into a commercial brawl. Companies try to beat one another for the lowest prices while making their workers pay the highest price. Workers often have to sacrifice the amount of time they can spend with their family because they have to be at work for midnight to open the store for one o’clock in the morning. Any of you who go shopping that early need to eat more turkey, put yourself into a food induced coma, and fall asleep on the couch next to Grampa. After giving thanks and spending time with your family, that is what you are supposed to do. Leave all the dishes piled in the sink, and take a long nap.

I do think there is something very good that goes on at the gingerbread house contest; it brings friends together after a long semester to have fun and relax before the stressful time of finals. The Davison crew does a wonderful job of getting students to help clean up their mess and also to help build a community of friendliness through competition. While everyone may be mobbing the front table for supplies, at the end there is trading and bartering amongst groups to get what you want and to help another group get what they want.

It promotes creativity, team work, and competition, even if it gets a bit violent. These are qualities that Saint Anselm College and students work towards daily. During the week, you compete for who can get the best grades, and on the weekends you compete for who can drink the most beers. It’s all about competition here on the hilltop, and one day a year you skip classes, and show how truly thankful you are.