University Advancement

Public Relations and Strategic Communications

NEWS RELEASE

As Holiday Season Kicks Off, CSUN Professors
Suggest Remembering What It Is All About

(NORTHRIDGE, Calif., Nov. 16, 2006) -- Halloween is over. Thanksgiving, Christmas and Hanukkah are just around the corner. Lists need to be drawn up, menus arranged, presents purchased, wrapped and hidden, and schedules consulted and rearranged.

The mere thought of the holidays and all they entail can make one’s heart race, blood pressure go up and bring on a migraine. A pair of Cal State Northridge professors has ideas for taking some of the stress out of the coming season.

"Let’s not forget that the holidays are a time for re-connecting families and communities," said Veda Ward, professor of leisure studies and recreation. "Though they have become more and more commercial, what makes the holidays so special are the traditions we celebrate and continue with our loved ones and friends."

With that in mind, Ward urged celebrants to shrug off the commercial pressures to spend like demons in anticipation of Christmas and Hanukkah and instead revel in the little things--enjoying the holiday displays in shop windows, curling up with your children and reading holiday stories, or making up some of your own based on your childhood experiences, and going on a hike.

"Today’s emphasis on de-stressing and self-pampering has left our children confused about nature," Ward said. "This holiday season help your family re-connect with nature by getting down and dirty! Start with a short hike in a local or regional park."

She said the walk would be a perfect time to help children identify found objects such as stones, pine cones, feathers and leaves that have been adapted for commercial use in the decorative patterns on tiles and tablecloths or the shape of cookie cutters, for example.

She suggested taking hints from nature in creating holiday activities over which the whole family can reconnect—baking leaf-shaped cookies, making a collage from tracings collected during a visit to the park, making pine cone ornaments, or decorating your table with leaves and boughs found outside.

As the holidays bear down, Ward said it is important to remember what they are about, and what makes them special for you and your family.

"It’s not about spending hours in a mall," she said.

Alyce Akers, chair of the Department of Family and Consumer Sciences, said it is also important to remember that the unexpected is going to happen and that no matter how hard you plan and reschedule, something is going to go wrong.

"You might as well just take a deep breath and accept it," she said.

Akers said that in today’s world of extended families and stepfamilies, trying to juggle everyone’s schedule so that you can have the type of holiday celebration often heralded in the season’s commercials can be unrealistic.

"Many families often have multiple familial demands on their time, what with the expectations of extended families, your father’s family and your mother’s family, it is impossible to be everywhere at once," she said. "At some point, you have to say enough is enough, and realize that not all holiday get-togethers can take place at the same time."

When the holiday demands get overwhelming, Akers suggested taking some time to remember what the season is all about.

"Volunteering with an organization you believe in, perhaps one that assists those that are less fortunate than you, serves as a reminder of what all this actually is about," she said. "The demands of the holidays--the shopping, trying to see everyone and everything else that goes with them--look a lot less important when you remember what your true priorities are."

California State University, Northridge has 34,500 full- and part-time students and offers 62 bachelor’s and 50 master’s degrees as well as 28 teaching credential programs. Founded in 1958, CSUN is among the largest single-campus universities in the nation and the only four-year public university in the San Fernando Valley. The university serves as the intellectual, economic and cultural heart of the Valley and beyond.