The holiday season is finally upon us, and the students and staff are more than happy to get away from the stressful halls of LaRue County High School. As winter break quickly approaches, the school halls are now decorated as students and staff spread the holiday spirt. The lobby, thanks to Ms.Hanna’s Art class, now has the white Christmas tree on display, and the blue tinsel sparkling along the walls. Chemistry teacher, Mrs.Lockett, even has her door decorated creatively for the holidays. The staff are participating in their annual Secret Santa while some classes are doing holiday related activities, such as the Creative Writing class is doing Dirty Santa and the Art student have been given the opportunity to make clay ornaments for their families. Break is getting closer and closer, and everyone is buzzing about their plans for the holidays. Even the staff seems anxious to get the much needed time off. The students are let out for break after the 18th of December and will not return until the 4th of January. How exactly are the students and staff spending their two weeks of down time with Christmas just around the corner?
Christmas is, as most holidays are, a time to be with family, but not just the family we see every day. It’s a time to reunite with the family we never get to see, and to do that, some students must travel. Sophomore Maddy Poirier is one of the multiple students that travel over break. She revealed that her family has a three year cycle; one year they would go to Florida, the next they’d go to Massachusetts, and the third year they would spend Christmas in Kentucky. Maddy mentioned that every year, her family takes part in different activity; last year, in Florida, Maddy’s family rented a boat to go out on the water and ended up finding an island. This year, Maddy is heading up to Massachusetts to stay with her aunt and her Mémé. In Massachusetts, Maddy’s Christmas dinner consists of different Portuguese foods including Linguicas, meat pies, and her favorite dish, Cannolis. She shared that her favorite memories of Christmas were made with her cousins at her Grammy’s old house by the water. “All the cousins would hang out in the guest room in the garage and we would all just chill,” Maddy recalled with an undeniable fondness in her voice.
The Christmas holiday is filled with gifts, delicious food, and time well spent with the family. Christmas cheer is taking over the atmosphere as Sophomore Elena Cecil shared how her family is celebrating the holidays. Elena explains that every year around Thanksgiving she and her cousins draw names for gag gifts. Then a few days after Christmas, her family gathers at her Aunt Kim’s house to indulge in great food cooked by all her aunts and uncles, including the traditional dish that she called “Christmas Meat”. After their dinner, Elena and her cousins all take a seat by the Christmas tree to open their gag gifts, starting with the oldest cousin and ending with the youngest. When asked what her all-time favorite Christmas gift is, Elena laughed after a couple moments of thought before answering that it was an automatic counting money jar that her grandmother had gotten her when she was little kid. “It was such an outrageous gift, we couldn’t take it seriously.” Elena reminisced,” My grandma was so proud of herself, she thought it was great.” She continued to explain that her grandmother had gotten everyone in the family the counting jars.
The seasonal cliché tunes seem to be a big part of the Christmas aesthetic. According to English teacher, Amy South, sitting around the Christmas tree and singing is one of her many traditions. ”We sit around singing Christmas songs,” Mrs.South gushed, ”My husband plays guitar, and one of our friends comes over to play the Cajon drum.” She also shared that her traditions are now starting to change since her son now understands exactly what Christmas is. Mrs.South revealed that she would love to start baking cookies with her son during the holiday season and that a tradition she is starting this year is opening one Christmas present on the night of Christmas Eve. She also included that she always puts her Christmas tree up on Thanksgiving much like her mother did when Mrs.South was a kid. Mrs.South then went on to speak about how every year when she was growing up, she would go over to her Granny’s to watch Home Alone on Christmas Eve.
As we grow up, we come to the realization that we aren’t kids anymore. However, you are never too old for silly family traditions. The holidays are the time where we can connect to our past, whether it’s carrying on the traditions we have, or starting new ones. Just because we’re growing up, or have already grown up, doesn’t mean that we have to stop enjoying the silly activities we loved as kids. So when you’re celebrating the holiday with your family, instead of acting like you’re too old for the quirky traditions, make the most of it; you could be making the memory you carry with you forever.