It’s the holiday season, which means that hope and cheer are abundant as students count down the days until winter break. Once they get a reprieve from the everyday stress of life in high school, many will be partaking in various annual holiday traditions.

Many of these traditions are cozy and fun, bringing back fond memories of having similar experiences in previous years. “I usually go celebrate Christmas with my friend. We go driving around looking at Christmas lights and watch Christmas movies while drinking hot chocolate every year,” says Grace Acevedo, a junior.

Some embody the spirit family fun, like the ones sophomore Femi Adeniji takes part in. “We cook and bake, eat, and watch holiday specials. Sometimes we take a road trip,” he explains.

Maia Tsalik, also a sophomore, celebrates multiple holidays with her family. “We celebrate Hanukkah and Christmas, so we do traditional Hanukkah things like latkes and play dreidel, as well as light the menorah. For Christmas, we open presents in the morning and spend the day cooking, playing games, and watching movies,” she says.

Several traditions have roots as far back as centuries ago. The interesting origins of 27 popular holiday traditions, including some of the ones celebrated by a portion of the Panther Creek student body, are explained in at firstwefeast.com, accompanied by a video narrated by fiction writer John Green.

A multitude of students and their families take winter break as an opportunity to travel or host relatives from out of town. “I think I’m gonna have, like, 20 people at our house Christmas morning,” says 10th grader Athena Albright. Other people choose to stay home, preferring to avoid the frantic scenarios that play out in the likes of the movie Home Alone. Sophomore Jacob Brundage is one example, responding with “not travel” when asked what he was grateful his family did for the holidays.

Whichever holiday(s) you celebrate and whatever your traditions are, we hope you have a great winter break! Happy holidays from PCNN!