As the temperature drops and students bundle up for another cold winter season, the campus of Liberty University is beginning to embrace the Christmas spirit. Assembly for the Christmas tree on the Academic Lawn began in early November, with other decorations like wreaths, bows and lights appearing on streetlamps, doorways and buildings.
While students only see the campus begin to transform on Nov. 1, the planning for the decorations begins at the beginning of the summer with multiple teams working together to make Christmas at Liberty possible.
“It’s a collaborative effort,” Cort Comfort, director of Student Activities said. “There’s a lot of really cool professionals that know what they’re doing.”
Student Activities and Liberty’s Facilities Planning & Management staff meet in June to collaborate on their design for the upcoming season. They decide what decorations will be needed while also mapping out events like Christmas in Lights and Coffeehouse.
Comfort credited the Grounds and Property Maintenance teams for setting up the decorations, lights and Christmas trees on campus. Also involved in the project are Campus Production and Event Production, who are responsible for making sure the campus lights up when the holiday season rolls around.
“This is really our time of year to celebrate the Christmas season together,” Comfort said. “Liberty students have such a deep tie to Christmas. We all love this holiday, but then we don’t see each other (during Christmas).”
Liberty begins setting up Christmas decorations before Thanksgiving, not only to allow the school enough time to prepare for the seasonal events later in the semester, but also to give students time to celebrate the season with one another before heading home for the holidays.
“It’s like a light at the end of the tunnel, especially as it becomes darker and colder out,” sophomore Madeline Jahnke said.
While some disagree on when it is appropriate to get into the Christmas spirit, many students have said that they look forward to the decorations being put up before Thanksgiving.
“I don’t mind celebrating it so early, because we always go home so early for Christmas break,” senior Lily Skinner said. “I like the decorations. They are not too extravagant, and when you walk around, you feel like you’re in Christmas.”
Students also agreed that they would like to see more decoration in places that are usually less festive, such as in Green Hall or inside more buildings on campus.
“We all love Christmas, and it’d be cool if students or staff could come together and liven up the indoors as well to keep the festivities going,” Skinner said.
In addition to decoration, Liberty offers events to bring the Christmas spirit to students, such as holiday-themed open mic nights and Christmas Coffeehouse, one of Liberty’s two Coffeehouse events hosted in the Vines Center each school year.
“I know not everybody wants to hear about Christmas stuff in August, but because Coffeehouse is such a tradition, we want to make sure freshmen know about it right when they get there,” Comfort said.
The theme for this year’s Christmas Coffeehouse is Under the Tree. Coffeehouse will take place Dec. 6, with tickets on sale since August. Students can buy tickets at www.liberty.edu/tickets.
Along with Coffeehouse, the school hosts the annual Christmas in Lights event where students can watch the Christmas tree lighting, listen to live music and interact with games and inflatables with friends and family. This year’s event took place Nov. 17.
Comfort emphasized that because Liberty harbors a deeply Christian community, the school wants to celebrate the holiday season for what it is: a remembrance of Jesus Christ’s birth. So, while students have fun with decorations, live music, a Christmas tree lighting and more, the priority of each event is to always keep Christ at the center of Christmas.
Gallagher is a feature writer for the Liberty Champion.