Christmas Break is always a fun time for family and friends to get together and celebrate the holidays. Everyone has different traditions and holidays that they celebrate over the break. Some families may only have one tradition, while some have a ton of different traditions. Kailyn Therber, freshman, said, “When I was little me and my family had a tradition where my parents would hide a pickle around the living room and we would find it. Whoever found it first got to open the first present.” Adalyn Smith, freshman, said, “I have a lot of Christmas traditions like decorating gingerbread houses, playing charlie brown bingo, going to my grandpa’s grave, and matching pjs with my family.”
A couple of people decided to travel during Christmas break. Kailyn Therber said, “Me and my family went to Nashville, which is where my grandparents live. They came down for Christmas, so we went there for New Years.” Other people had family come to them. Adalyn Smith said, “My cousins came down from Portland, so I spent the week with them.”
There are so many different foods people have around Christmas time. Some have their signature dishes, while others make the first thing they see in the pantry. Finley Kelly, 7th grader, said, “My favorite dish that I had on Christmas was the broccoli and cheddar casserole. It was really yummy and I had like 5 servings of it.” Kailyn Therber said, “My favorite dish I had was definitely cranberry sauce. I might be biased because I made it, but oh well.” Trudy VanSise, 7th grader, focuses on a different type of food, and said, “I love sweets, and on Christmas this year my aunt brought some mini chocolate cakes that were really good.”
Lots of people were very excited to exchange gifts over Christmas Break. Some wanted accessories, some wanted room decor, some wanted electronics, and some wanted random things. Trudy VanSise said, “My favorite thing I did on Winter Break was spending time with my family and opening Christmas presents.”
Some peoples favorite gifts were electronics. Finley Kelly said, “I really like my Beats headphones that I got. I use them everyday.” Other people enjoyed the presents they got that reflected their personalities. Kailyn Therber said, “My favorite gift I got was definitely my white Kate Spade purse. ”
Even though Christmas is fun, everyone around the world was celebrating another holiday during winter break: New Years! Trudy VanSise said, “On New Year’s Eve me and my family went to my friend’s house and I stayed until midnight. We did fireworks and ate hotdogs.” People like Trudy VanSise were focusing on the fun of the night, while some were more focused on their goals for the year to come. Adalyn Smith said, “On New Years I made a list of things I didn’t want to do in 2025, so I did everything before it was 2025. I said I wouldn’t have a lot of sweet tea in 2025, so I drank a whole cup before midnight.” Most people stayed up for the clock to hit midnight, but others were just too tired. Kailyn Therber said, “Like I said earlier, I went to Nashville for new years, and me and my family planned to stay up until midnight, but they fell asleep. I ended up staying awake until midnight.” That’s a wrap on the 2024 holiday season, and for some it may have been the best so far.
