Andy Williams once sang that Christmas is the most wonderful time of year. When we were younger, this was true. As soon as Santa came down the road at the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade, ’twas the season.

There was no stress back in grade school. It was non-stop baked goods and family traditions. Getting the tree, hanging the Christmas lights, drinking egg nog, waiting for Christmas morning. The entire season was filled with magic.

Now, before the turkey and pie are even digested, the work starts. Professors try to cram those last few grades in before finals. Groups work frantically to get projects done. The crunch of finals overwhelms many students. Now, this season is filled with nothing but stress.

It’s sad, but now this season no longer brings joy. The dread of knowing that the next three weeks will be filled with long nights, work and stress makes students uptight as far back as Thanksgiving.

It’s hard to enjoy the time with one’s family with a ten-page paper hanging over a person’s head. Leftovers don’t sit as well when served with a side of guilt over the work that is due immediately after break.

Somewhere along the lines, Christmas lost its magic. The sense of wonder is gone. Christmas lights no longer elicit feelings of awe and joy, but rather the realization that soon nights will be spent not tucked away in beds, but huddled in a corner room in the library, chugging Mountain Dew and trying not to pass out in English Literature books.

Villanova does its part with tree lighting ceremonies and holiday dinners, but the child in the student needs more than that to bring back the good old days.

Professors should plan their semesters so as to not try to cram so much work into the last few weeks of the semester.

If a class gets behind the syllabus, the professor should adjust it and take something out rather than trying to fit more into the last few weeks.

Finals week is a necessary evil, but having thirty-plus pages of paper due in a span of three days isn’t.

We need to get back our sense of joy. Christmas brings out the best in people. It should be a time when we are a little bit nicer, a little bit less selfish and a little more considerate of our fellow man.

All we want for Christmas shouldn’t be for the season to end.