I am a holiday lover. I love breaks from school, I love vacation, I love holiday decorations. What I’m not a fan of is overhyped holidays. Certain holidays are simply better than others. These ten holidays, ranked best to worst, are as follows:

#1 –  Memorial Day: Completely underrated. Imagine this: it’s mid-May, the UV is above 8 while you’re stuck inside class, your afternoons are spent doing homework; you’re mentally counting down the days until summer break. Then, out of nowhere, we have a day off from school. After Memorial Day, the countdown until summer kicks into 5th gear. That’s something to celebrate. 

#2 – Hanukkah: I know that not everybody celebrates this, but as someone who celebrates both Hanukkah and Christmas, I believe everyone should find a Jewish friend and join in on their family’s Hanukkah celebrations. Imagine Christmas was eight days long, except instead of red and green, everything’s blue. 

#3 – Black Friday:  I know this isn’t technically a holiday, but in my heart, it is. All Thanksgiving break, I’m switching from tab to tab, taking notes of the Black Friday deals. Christmas mornings are no comparison to the exhilaration I feel as I’m shuffling through a jam-packed mall, hitting shoulders with every shopper I pass. This holiday is celebrated nationwide, with every mall, parking lot, and shopping center overflowing with shoppers, delirious from their lack of sleep the night before. I’ll admit, recently the sales have decreased, but the excitement has not.

#4 – Presidents’ Week: I couldn’t tell you which presidents are celebrated this week, but nonetheless, Presidents’ Week has earned a spot at number 4. Coming back from Winter Break is exhausting, and that lethargic energy lingers in the school hallways for more than a month until Presidents’ Week arrives. I would like to use this time to personally thank George Washington for all he’s done for the students in our nation. Viva la Presidents Week.

#5 – New Year’s Eve: It’s great to start over and excuse your recent actions with “Well, I did that last year,” when you’re referring to something that’s a few weeks old. I love setting New Year’s resolutions, though I’ve yet to successfully hold myself to them. The spur-of-the-moment optimism is what counts, not what follows. It’s the only holiday where it’s acceptable to celebrate on ‘eve.’ This holiday gets bonus points for its decorations and beautiful color scheme. Who doesn’t love gold?

#6 – Christmas: I love Christmas as much as the next person, but it’s overhyped. If it wasn’t for the two-week break it allots, Christmas would not even be on this list. Growing up, Christmas has lost its magic, which knocks it down a few rankings. The anxiety invoked from Secret Santa exchanges, buying gifts, white elephant presents; I’m not a fan. If “Polar Express” watch parties were still a thing in high school classrooms, then Christmas might be ranked a bit higher. 

#7 – Easter: The Easter Bunny is terrifying, and also absolutely unnecessary. The story of the Easter Bunny will never compete with the magical lie that is Santa. I do, nonetheless, appreciate Easter egg hunts, and I do love Cadbury Eggs. The bunny just ruins it for me. It’s scary, it’s odd, completely unnecessary, and beyond random. I understand a magic man in the North Pole, but I draw the line at a life-sized, looming, eerie bunny. If it weren’t for the Easter Bunny, then Easter also might be a bit higher. Every time I think of Easter though, I can’t help but picture a 6’0 man in a bunny costume, and that ruins it for me. 

#8 – Halloween: It’s one day on the calendar, so why do I need to think of seven different costumes? When I was younger, Halloween was celebrated on only one day. Now, every weekend in October, there’s a different Halloween event. I can’t do it. The first day is fun, but after days of costumes, I would do anything to be in middle school again: sitting in my living room after a successful endeavor of trick-or-treating, sorting through my candy. I don’t enjoy any of the scary Halloween activities either, like Haunted Trails or Scream Zone. Make Halloween one day again.

#9 – St. Patrick’s Day – Something about St. Patrick’s Day has always irked me. In elementary school, I didn’t own any green and would brave school every year wearing my non-green t-shirt, just to end up getting pinched all day. In high school, I simply cannot remember to wear green, and those who don’t forget never let you live that down. There’s no St. Patrick’s Day activities, no classic movies, nothing. The most eventful part of St. Patrick’s Day is dodging pinches. It’s like the purge, but for pinching. 

#10 – Thanksgiving – I am grateful for much in my life, don’t get me wrong, but I have never been a fan of Thanksgiving. The food ruins it for me. Turkey is only good on Jersey Mike’s sandwiches, and stuffing is probably the worst thing to be invented. Stuffing looks and tastes like it was pre-eaten for you, as if you’re a baby bird. Then, you feel like you doubled in size eating food that wasn’t good in the first place. Also, the timing of Thanksgiving could not be any worse. Post-election, sitting around a dinner table with your extended family: not a great combination.