There is no shortage of rich culture and unique traditions throughout the world. Looking deeper into the holiday traditions here at Yorktown, many joyful and exciting traditions can be found within our student body.

At our school, the celebration of Hanukkah is quite common. The culture behind Hanukkah is both intricate and specific, and many people celebrate it with important family traditions that they incorporate into their yearly holiday schedule.

“It is very important to my family that we always celebrate (Hanukkah) together by lighting candles together and by exchanging gifts each day for eight days,” freshman Samuel Keiser said.

No matter what you may be celebrating, this holiday season is a great opportunity to grow closer to others and take part in special family moments.

“For me, the holiday season has always been really special because of the time I get to spend with my family. I especially love when I get to spend a lot of time with some of my other relatives that I don’t really get to see a lot,” Keiser said.

Rich tradition is reinforced and celebrated by the generational ties of families. With a large percentage of our school being Christian, the Christmas spirit invites a warm feeling of peace and joy into their lives.

“My family has always had a more relaxed approach to Christmas, but whenever we have some of our older family members come into town it is always super fun to get back into the Christmas spirit and celebrate by doing things like watching old Christmas movies and baking with old family recipes,” freshman Theo Wargo said.

With all this tradition, there comes with it an underlying excitement for the main holiday activities themselves. There are numerous traditions involved not simply in the lead up to the day, but found within the day itself.

“My sister and I have always woken our parents up at 5 or 6 in the morning to open up gifts. My parents don’t really love that, but it is super fun to feel that rush of excitement on Christmas morning,” Wargo said.

As people grow into the holiday spirit, there will always be those certain traditions that may be considered a little unhealthy, but it is always fun to indulge yourself during the holiday season.

“We always do a crazy marathon of Christmas movies. Sometimes, we have watched five or six movies in a row,” freshman Henrik Raimo said.

As it is the holiday season, many of these traditions involve the consumption of delicious treats in amounts that can become quite high.

“My family and I always go a bit overboard. We are always baking cookies, or making pie. It is all a part of the fun we get to have together over the break,” Raimo said.

The holiday season is an important time of year for families around the world. Throughout this season the level of diverse culture around us is more prevalent than ever. It is imperative that during this season we submit ourselves to spending meaningful time with our families, in order to bring out the joy that comes with the holidays.