In the words of Buddy the Elf, “The best way to spread Christmas cheer is singing loud for all to hear.” In the midst of stress and finals, the community of Pullman is offering plenty of chances for students to get in the Christmas spirit with live holiday music.

Resonate Church will kick off the holiday season by hosting their annual Christmas party tonight at 7 p.m. in the Resonate Church offices on High Street in Pullman.

On-campus freshmen multiplier for Resonate Brian Jones said that the party is a standard event for the Resonate staff and students.

“We throw this party basically every year,” Jones said. “The Resonate staff is often times split between the campus church and the off campus church, and this one of the only events of the year where we’re all together hanging out.”

The Resonate Christmas party is thrown for both churches, Jones said, and welcomes any students and community members who are looking for a spirited Friday night full of snacks, activities and music.

“We’re having professional musicians come out who’ll play a lot of covers of classic Christmas songs,” Jones said. “It’ll be a different twist, something everyone loves in a new style.”

Jones said that the Resonate staff and students are all eager to see new faces at the event.

“Everyone here will be really excited to see you and we all love meeting new people and all our parties tend to end in a pretty awesome dance party,” Jones said

Across the state line, Christ Church is prepping for their traditional Christmas caroling event, which will take place Saturday at 2 p.m. in Friendship Square in Moscow.

Christ Church member Maggie Church said that the idea for holding a community caroling event has developed over the last few years.

“We used to have it at the mall, but we decided to move it to Friendship Square to be more accessible to the public,” Church said.

Along with their cheery singers, Church said that they provide cookies and hot chocolate to passersby and, of course, the many carolers.

“We open this event to the other churches in the area and everyone always invites friends,” Church said. “Everyone is welcome and encouraged to participate.”

It may be a bit of a drive away on the Saturday before finals week, but Church said she believes that we should all take some time to enjoy the season.

“You don’t get to sing Christmas carols very often,” she said. “Come join us and sing all your old favorites. We’ll all be cold together!”

Community Congregational United Church of Christ (CCUCC) will demonstrate a somewhat different take with its events, The Longest Night, happening Dec. 18 at 7 p.m. at the CCUCC building at the bottom of College Hill.

“The Longest Night is a service that started as what they used to call a Blue Christmas service for people who might be having a hard time at the holidays or just be stressed from the craziness of the season,” said associate pastor Chip Laird.

Laird said the service gives emotional space to all those in attendance, a chance to sit and reflect on the meaning of the season surrounded in Christmas lights and candlelight. Music will include harp performance accompanied by CCUCC’s own keyboardist.

“The music is generally pretty quiet. Kathy Spencer, our keyboardist, does a beautiful job,” Laird said. “We offer the opportunity for people to come forward and light candles for whatever it is that they’re thinking about.”

The service includes what Laird calls a very brief and basic run-through of the Christmas story, but the perspective remains on anything you may be going through at this time of year, whether its stress or loss.

“We really focus on the hope that is present in the story,” Laird said. “There’s not a sermon or anything like that, just lots of time for reflection with music throughout.”

The service may hit at one of the most stressful parts of the year for WSU students, but in Laird’s point of view, it’s at just the right time.

“A lot of years (The Longest Night) doesn’t hit well with the academic year, but this year, it’s still during finals week,” Laird said. “I personally think it’s a perfect way to get away from whatever it is you’re doing and have some time to decompress.”

So despite whatever may be causing sleepless nights in the last week of the semester, make some time to get out and enjoy the celebrations of the holiday season. It may be a good reminder of what it’s all for.

For more information, visit the Resonate Church and Christ Church Facebook profiles, and visit CCUCC’s website at www.pullmanucc.com.