Living in a dorm can be tough. 

It can be even tougher when we’re in the midst of a pandemic that never seems to end, when the flu is spreading through halls like wildfire, or when there is an especially large clump of hair in the bottom of the communal shower. As a second-year RA and third-year dorm inhabitant myself, I know these things all too well. So I try to do anything I can to make our little corner of the residential building – fourth floor of Graham Lees, “Pres” side – feel merrier and homier. This year, that involved dedicating one of our hall walls to what I would affectionately call a Post-it note collage: a jumbled, at-times-cheeky-at-times-sincere, anonymous collection of answers to the question “what little things make you happy?”

 With students finishing up finals and the holidays right around the corner, it feels like a perfect time to share some of those Post-its for a splash of holiday cheer. Some are connected to Lexington and some aren’t, but all of them serve to remind us what this time of year is really about: being thankful and embracing what, and who, we love. 

So without any further delay, here’s what’s been making fourth floor-ers happy this year (any punctuation, incorrect grammar, or smileys have been left as written, for authenticity’s sake, but names have been abbreviated to their first letter, for anonymity’s sake):

• My friends from home (:
• Ice cream!
• Uno
• Beautiful libraries 
• The moon and stars
• Great hikes (: 
• A good tote bag
• Strawberry rhubarb pie and ice cream
• Waiters and waitresses being really nice to you!
• When your favorite song comes on the radio (: 
• Spending time with Annalisa <3 (*writer’s note: obviously this is my favorite one up there*)
• Watching an episode of New Girl (*writer’s note: my hall is New Girl themed)
• The drummer in By George (the one that got away) (*writer’s note: for context, this band played at FIJI over parent’s weekend)
• Cereal before bed
• Seeing others’ smiles (: 
• Dinner parties with friends
• R (*writer’s note: this one had two Post-its with arrows pointing to it, labeled “same”) 
• Good morning and good night texts
• The RAs on call (*writer’s note: an RA 100% wrote this but I still included it because I like to pretend that one of my residents did) 
• Going on a walk and podcasting
• My mommy and daddy (since they’ll probably see this parent’s weekend) 
• Shopping for clothes
• Seeing old people happy in public
• Getting a text from an old friend
• The rain
• My damn self – E
• A clean and organized room
• Movie nights
• Reading a book while it rains outside
• Getting a postcard
• Late-nite walks to Glees
• Soccer (:
• Music
• Cartwheels!
• When A gets quarantined
• When J leaves the room (*writer’s note: A and J are in fact best friends…)
• Blue Ridge Sunsets
• A good night’s sleep
• Poker
• When K finds my ring and tapes it to my door (:
• Angel – 4:44 I love your style and aesthetic 
• Seeing dogs on campus
• This hall (*writer’s note: this is my second favorite*) 

May your holidays be merry, bright, and filled with all the little things you love!