It’s almost that time of year again. The busiest, most anticipated time of the year: the holiday season.

Whether it is Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa or a different celebration, people sure are starting to get into the holiday spirit.

Before heading home for the holidays, some students are setting up decorations, spreading some holiday cheer around Eastern.

Matt Bollini, a resident assistant in Stevenson Hall, said he will be spend about $100 on decorations this year, including a tree, lights and garland.

Aside from the residence halls, students who live off campus are celebrating as well.

Patrick Sprague, a sophomore political science major, said his fraternity house spends about $150 decorating on wreaths, lights and traditional holiday stuff.

“Our new initiates take care of most of that,” he said

Sprague added. “A lot of people bring leftover stuff from home that their (parents) don’t use anymore.”

As for the residence halls, there are some things that the university will and will not allow students to use for decorating.

“I know we’re not supposed to have candles and basically anything that can cause a fire other than a microwave,” said Jessica Gleadall, a Stevenson Hall resident. “Most of it was bought for me by my parents. But max, I’ll spend $25. It kind of keeps us in the holiday spirit with all the stress involved with school and stuff.”

Glancing at windows around campus, students are beginning to set up lights in their rooms, and some have even set up miniature Christmas trees to get into the holiday spirit.

“One thing that we do not allow is students covering their entire door in wrapping paper,” said Jody Stone, assistant director of housing. “An abundance of paper is a fire hazard.”

Aside from wrapping up doors, Stone also made it clear what students should be aware of when decorating the residence halls.

“Obviously they can’t do anything that’ll deface university property, and the holiday decorations should be made of fireproof materials,” he said. “They can put up lights, but they need to be UL approved. As long as it’s UL approved, it’s okay.”

UL approval signifies that a product has been approved by Underwriters Laboratories, Inc.

It ensures that “the product has successfully met stringent standards for product safety or management system compliance,” according to www.ul.com.

There are also some items that students are not allowed by any means to use as decorations in their rooms.

“Christmas trees are not permitted in the rooms,” Stone said. “And candles are not permitted at all. Not even candles that are not lit, they’re too much of a fire hazard.”

Getting into the Christmas spirit by decorating can relieve students’ stress over the semester crunch down and overall be a lot of fun.