Unless you’re living under a rock, I don’t need to tell you that the state of the world has been a little rough lately — to say the least. I don’t plan on focusing on the difficulties, so don’t worry. While I believe it’s important to be aware of the going-ons of current events, I also believe escapism is incredibly important and helpful. I believe there is an invaluable aspect to having hobbies or activities one can go to when they’ve had a rough or stressful day. What better time is there to focus on the good, small things in life than the holiday season? Combine the current festive season with things like television, movies and video games, and you have a mixture like peanut butter and jelly that will give anyone the warm and fuzzies.

Who doesn’t love or at least know of “Friends”? This show is massively popular. You’d be hard-pressed to find anyone who hasn’t watched an episode of the show or, at least, knows the names of the characters. A tradition that the series does commonly is the Thanksgiving episode. Every season, the show will do an episode purely based on the holiday of getting together and eating with people you love and care about. There are 10 different Thanksgiving episodes in this show. All of them are either wholesome or hilarious, or sometimes both. Which one is the best though?

If I had to choose, it would easily be “The One with the Football” from season three of the show. Like I said, there are a lot to choose from, but this episode just screams Thanksgiving to me. It centers around a football game between the main cast. It depends on who you ask, but football is a staple of the festive season for me. I would play football over Christmas break with my brothers when I was younger and throwing around the old pigskin on Turkey Day just hits different. The episode is hilarious, heartwarming and incredibly festive. It ends in a hilarious, very in-character way for Ross and Monica, the two siblings of the show. Watch the episode to find out — it’s great. Hell, watch the whole show — it’s also great.

In a similar realm to television, movies are suckers for festive aesthetics. In my family, the ultimate Christmas movie for us has gotta be “How the Grinch Stole Christmas” starring Jim Carrey. This movie is a religion in my household. We’ve watched the DVD on repeat year after year, I’m shocked it’s not scratched to smithereens. This film is everything a good holiday movie should be. It’s festive, it’s heartwarming and it’s hilarious. Carrey puts this movie on his back and carries it to the North Pole. Not saying the rest of the cast is bad (they’re great), but his energetic and charismatic persona as the jolly green Grinch is pure comedy in the best way.

I’m shocked because when I ask my friends about this movie they all say it’s so bad that it’s good. That couldn’t be further from the truth. This movie is a comfort movie due to how cheery it is, but it is also a straight-up physical comedy. Carrey’s performance has so much raw physicality that it is hypnotic. The makeup team should be commended as well, because his appearance is goofy in the best way, while also not looking cheap. The supporting cast gets their job done and are comedic when they need to be, but Carrey is the star. This movie is great not because it’s bad, but because it genuinely is great. I could write a whole piece on its own defending this movie.

I wanted more than anything to write about a video game for this third piece of media, but I’ll try something new. A book series I adored as a kid was “Geronimo Stilton.” This novel was a series about a mouse who works as a newspaper writer (funny). He gets himself into all kinds of trouble and wacky adventures. The art is aesthetically pleasing and the stories are simple yet wholesome. Is this book series made for early elementary school readers? Yes. However, the point here is that the books are festive and just feel good as hell. Geronimo has a ton of festive-themed adventures that get anyone of any age into the holiday mood. My favorite since I was a kid was the “A Very Merry Christmas” novel where he goes on an adventure in the snow-covered Big Apple.

All of these different pieces of media serve one purpose. They get you in the mood for the given holiday season. This isn’t limited to any holiday in particular as I just chose to focus on more current holidays as of this writing. That’s what is so great about these kinds of experiences. They all give the audience the heartwarming feeling that goes with the holiday season. When current events get you down or if you’re just having a stressful day, put on a holiday movie. I bet it’ll take your mind off of things and make you feel better. Even better, do it with some people you love and care about. That’s what the holidays are all about.

Nicolas Scagnelli is a senior majoring in English.