bridgemas

As the snow melts away from Cambridge, a beautiful winter dusting, it feels like the perfect time for a Bridgemas post.

Bridgemas, is the affectionate term for any time around and after 25 Nov until Christmas where we celebrate the holiday season. A mash up between Cambridge and Christmas, its cute. I made my phone recognize it so it doesn’t autocorrect to Christmas.

It’s when the city finally turns the Christmas lights on, the Instagram Christmas tree in the market goes up, and the college dining halls put up their tree and give us Christmas crackers for formal. And at Christs, we crown Milton with a paper Christmas crown because, well just because.

The lockdown Christmases really took some of the holiday spirit away for me for awhile. I watched all the Christmas movies and did some long distance zoom baking with my mom & sisters, but those couple years really lowered my holiday excitement. And Bridgemas these last two years has really revived that. Wreath making socials and festive meals out with your research group, Christmas carols, Christmas trees to light your way home through people’s windows when the sun sets at 3:30pm, formals with paper crowns and corny jokes that get funnier the more port you drink. It’s simply just a delightful time. And term is over, so even though PhD’s don’t really get a break right as term ends, there’s a collective reduction of stress in the air. A communal drop in cortisol levels. It didn’t snow last year, and truthfully, it’s the best addition to the building holiday spirit.

Bridgemas is just a moment in time where indulging in the romanticization of Cambridge is enchanting.