When you are young, Christmas traditions are often filled with excitement and magical moments filled with holiday spirit. The thought of Santa coming on Christmas Eve, making cookies, and decorating the tree create unforgettable memories for children. Christmas for BSM students nowadays is more nostalgic and geared towards spending time with family and friends. Although traditions have changed, the holidays still excite and bring people together.
Christmas time as a kid was often the holiday everyone looked forward to the most. Getting two weeks off of school and receiving everything on your wish list from Santa was every kid’s favorite feeling. “As a kid, I loved Christmas time. I made gingerbread houses with my family, I went sledding with my friends, and I would always visit Santa and tell him what I wanted for Christmas,” junior Nora Potter said.
As years go on, Christmas becomes less about visiting Santa, and more about spending time with your loved ones and relaxing over the break. The older kids get, the harder it is for them to come up with items to put on their Christmas lists. The younger you are, the more things excite you, which makes it easier to craft the perfect wish list. “Christmas is very different now, because as a kid I knew exactly what I wanted every year, and now as a senior in high school I’m struggling to come up with ideas to put on my list,” Charlize Vang said.
Although some childhood Christmas traditions have faded, a lot of students and their families continue to celebrate their most special traditions. Decorating around the house, putting ornaments on the tree, and watching Christmas movies are traditions that are still common the older you get. “I’d say we still keep up our Christmas traditions, we always bake Christmas cookies and we decorate the tree every year as a family, so not much has changed,” Vang said.
Students also see a change when it comes to schooling around the holidays as they entered high school. Christmas time during elementary school was all about decorating the school and watching Christmas movies with your classmates. During high school, the big focus is cramming in every test and assignment before finals arrive after winter break. “School now is a lot harder before Christmas, because we get assigned so much, and I miss being younger and being able to make snowflakes and watch Christmas movies in school,” Potter said.