(Courtesy: Paige Benoit) Paige Benoit and Daniella Pitruzzello, both juniors at Assumption College in Worcester, Massachusetts, smile for the camera. (WORCESTER, Mass.) — Christmas crept in early for one unsuspecting roommate who hates that people celebrate before the Thanksgiving turkey is even on the table.
Assumption College junior Paige Benoit walked into her version of a Christmas nightmare after her roommate Daniella Pitruzzello decked the halls in their dorm early with over-the-top holiday decorations.
“She always complains about how she hates when people celebrate Christmas before Thanksgiving and when her friends send snaps of listening to Mariah Carey, so I thought, ‘If this isn’t the perfect opportunity for a prank, I don’t know what is,'” Pitruzzello told ABC News with a laugh.
Benoit said she hates it when people “go from Halloween mode straight into Christmas mode” because Thanksgiving is her favorite holiday.
“It just bugs the crap out of me,” Benoit, 20, told ABC News. “Girls at my school, at midnight on November first, start blasting Christmas music. So it always drives me crazy. My roommates know how annoyed I get by it.”
Pitruzzello started plotting the Christmas extravaganza prank in September, gathering supplies she already owned and spending $7 on more ornaments, jingle bells and wrapping paper from the dollar store.
When Benoit left to grab dinner last week at the dining hall, Pitruzzello seized the opportunity, spreading her holly, jolly spirit all over the room.
Benoit returned to a full-blown Christmas wonderland, which caused her to turn into the Grinch.
“When I came back I opened the door to find Christmas decorations and Christmas music playing,” she recalled. “She covered my tapestries, she remade my bed to put Christmas blankets on it, she had a stocking above my bed, Christmas lights were up and she wrapped my closet in wrapping paper. She also put jingle bells around my fan.
“I was like, ‘Dear God, why?,’” Benoit said of her Scrooge-like reaction. “I didn’t know what to do, so I walked out of my room.”
Pitruzzello said she realized her roommate really wasn’t going to come back until she took all the festive decor down, so she did. But it’s all in safe keeping.
The decorations are now under her bed, ready to make a Christmas comeback on Dec. 1.
To clear the air, Benoit said “Christmas is still a really good holiday.”
But, she said, after her grandfather passed away, her family no longer celebrated like they once did.
“Christmas was my grandpa’s favorite and he loved decorating for it as a family,” Benoit said. “But when he passed away, Christmas drifted back into the background because it was too sad for us to think about. So Thanksgiving became one of my favorites.”
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