Christmas is a highly celebrated holiday, and for most students, one of their favorite times of the year. Students at LHS talked about their Christmas traditions that they and their family celebrate. Students talk about spending time with their family, decorations, and food.

A lot of students get together with their family on this special holiday.

“We spend [Christmas] morning at my house, and we do the usual family stuff,” freshman Hailey Smith said. “Typically in the afternoon, we go to St. Louis where my grandma on my mom’s side lives.”

“I go to my grandma’s house on my mother’s side. She lives in Topeka, Kansas.” junior Sierra Harding said.

Some students spend Christmas in one house all day, and others might be rushing from one house to the other.

“I go to a lot of places to celebrate Christmas. My parents are divorced, and so I always celebrate with my mom’s family on Christmas Eve,” senior Michael McHale said. “We always go to my Aunt Melanie’s house and do a big Christmas Dinner there. Christmas morning, I usually spend with my mom and my step dad. In the late morning and early afternoon, I usually go over to my dad’s house and celebrate with him and my step mom. Then I go over to my Grandma’s house. It’s really all over the place.”

One of the first things that people think of when they hear Christmas is the food. To be more precise, the Christmas Dinner.

“We eat some ham and some turkey. We usually have both. We also always have the pink pudding with the marshmallows. My grandma makes the best,” Harding said.

“My Grandma Scarlet makes this stuffing that is absolutely delicious, so all of us pig out on it,” McHale said. “One [thing] that we asked her to do is that my sister, my dad and I all get our own pan of it.”

Christmas is a very enjoyable holiday for a lot of students at LHS.

“My favorite part about Christmas is all of the pretty lights. I am going to go watch them turn on the lights this year with my family,” Smith said.

“I love getting together with the family and celebrating so much joy,” Harding said. “And the presents. Mostly the presents.”

“My favorite thing about Christmas would, besides being out of school, be getting to spend extra time with my family,” McHale said. “We all work, we all have things we have to do, and I don’t get to see a lot of them all of the time.”

A sure sign that Christmas is here is all of the Christmas decorations. Families put lights on their house, figures in their yard, and trees in their homes.

“A couple of days after Thanksgiving, it’s typically me yelling at everyone to do everything. My dad does the outside, and my brother, mom, and I do the inside,” Smith said.

“My mom puts up all the Christmas stuff right after Halloween,” Harding said. “We don’t decorate the outside because my mom is afraid of heights.”

“I make it a point in my family to decorate on Black Friday. That’s what we do. The day after Thanksgiving, the tree goes up, everything is out, the movies start playing. It is time, people!” McHale said.

One of the more popular Christmas traditions is the presents, whether it comes to buying them, wrapping them, or opening them.

“Typically I go first opening presents,” Smith said. “and then my brother, then my mom, and then my dad.”

“I have officially made up my mind. I want Taylor Swift tickets for the 1989 tour,” McHale said. “I’m so excited.”

While presents, family, and food are things people might look up to, some people don’t feel as excited about Christmas.

“I didn’t think negatively about Christmas when I was a kid so much. The commercialism of it and the hecticness with the family isn’t fun to me,” Biology teacher Trace Larson said. “I do participate in Christmas traditions, but it’s not a fun thing for me. I don’t enjoy it and I don’t like doing it. To me, everybody spending money on presents isn’t what it’s all about, so that part isn’t fun for me. My wife and kids are all about it. My parents are all about it too. I’m the one who doesn’t really care. I’m more about the Christmas Dinner, and getting together with family.”

Even if you enjoy Christmas, you might not enjoy Christmas music. Others can easily say that they go crazy for it.

“I listen to [Christmas music] year round. Not religiously, but if my iPod is on shuffle and a Christmas song comes on, I will get into it,” McHale said. “ I honestly don’t think you could go wrong with All I Want For Christmas Is You by Mariah Carey. I love that song. I know every word to it.”