The Oracle staff celebrates the end of the holiday season with a Christmas wrap-up!
Christmas Traditions
Noah Goodson
People from different cultures do different things when it comes to the holidays. Christmas is one of the most popular holidays around the world. Just because this is a holiday doesn’t mean everyone celebrates it. Different cultures come with different traditions and how they celebrate when the time comes around. We asked Olympia Students and Staff how they celebrate this time of year:
Deputy Love, Security
“Normally what we do is open one gift on Christmas Eve, then we open the rest of the gifts on Christmas day.”
Jovenson Lifelur (12th)
“Every Christmas we go to each of our relative’s houses and play games like Secret Santa and eat together.”
Raymond Borbon, Security
“On Christmas Eve we go to my Grandparent’s house and on Christmas day we go to my other Grandparent’s house and on the 26th of December we have a big dinner together with the whole family.”
Ms. Digiorgio, Chemistry Teacher
“December 6th is Saint Nicholas Day in the Netherlands and Belgium. Where Santa comes and brings presents to the little kids. You are supposed to put your shoes outside your door and Santa is supposed to come and fill them with candy and little presents.”
Christopher Monroe (9th)
“We get to choose and open one present on Christmas Eve and on the day of Christmas we open the rest of the presents and have a big dinner with the family.”
Jaydon Alcime (9th)
“We don’t celebrate Christmas Eve and we wait until Christmas [Day] to open all of our presents at once. Then we go to my Grandparent’s house and have a big family dinner while playing card games.”
Christina Saint Clair (12th)
“We all come together at our Grandparents then go to church, we come back from Church and open our gifts and after everything is done we play Secret Santa and have dinner.”
Xzion Mathis (11th)
“We travel to Georgia on Christmas to go see family and usually play games like Secret Santa and other things revolving around Christmas and open presents on Christmas Eve the day before.”
Fred-Cristopher Pierre (12th)
“We open presents and we all go to our cousin’s house to meet up to play games and have fun. My favorite meal to eat is Macaroni and cheese when having dinner.”
Isaiah Thomas (10th)
“My Christmas tradition is usually when we go to Chicago to see my family. My Grandparents give me gifts while I am down there to see them.”
Festive Flicks
Trace Furniss and Owen Jacobs
Every December, people all around the world celebrate a special time in life with family and friends. What makes Christmas special is not just Santa coming on Christmas Eve and dropping off presents, it’s also the traditions, decorations, and movies that make the season special.
On a nice, cold night in the winter, family and friends often come together and watch special Christmas movies displayed on channels all over television. What is everyone’s favorite movie? Students at Olympia High School shared their opinions on what’s the best movie to watch.
Mason Mojica, a senior at Olympia High School, said that the movie Home Alone is his favorite. “Growing up, I always wanted to be left home alone thinking I was more mature than I was. When I watched Home Alone, it just boosted my confidence that I could hold down the fort by myself,” Mojica shared. The classic Home Alone brings excitement to every kid’s eyes. The premise of the movie is about a little kid who was left behind by his parents during Christmas, but he must fight off two robbers by setting off homemade traps. As a kid watching that, all the inner thoughts of staying home alone got more realistic in their eyes as they wanted to recreate every move from the movie.
Bella Ruggero’s favorite movie growing up was Polar Express. “Growing up I would watch Polar Express every Christmas night.” Bella’s love for the movie came from a family tradition of sitting down on Christmas Eve and coming together as a family and enjoying the thrill of the movie. Bella said she’d “want to continue the tradition one day when she’s all grown up with a family.”
Traditions aren’t limited to just watching Christmas movies every night. They can be unique in many ways depending on the family. Junior Ava Pazos said her favorite tradition is “making Gingerbread houses and eating them afterward.” When it comes to decorating the houses, “My family treats it like a competitive sports game. We sabotage each other, taking it very seriously,” Pazos explained. Waiting all year for this special holiday brings families closer for times like this. Sophomore Ethan Rathmann shared that his family tradition is “Going with my family to buy a Christmas tree and then decorating it that same night.” The Christmas tree is a staple. Rathmann said, “We put on a movie and eat cookies while we all help decorate the tree.” Coming together to light up the tree for the big night with beautiful ornaments and decorations is something the Rathmann family waits all year to do. When they do it, it’s treated as its own special holiday. Unlike Ethan, Tia Dixon’s family decorates with a fake tree. Real or not, a Christmas tree has the same importance to the holiday. “The tree signifies light in our house with beautiful Christmas colors that remind everyone of the importance of the holiday,” Dixon said. As you can see, everyone celebrates the holiday differently but all still enjoy celebrating Christmas and having a good time.
Shopping Spree!
Joy Hendricks
The holidays are a time that families gather and celebrate together by giving gifts. But, some gifts are particularly special because of the thought behind them. These gifts are really important to both the receivers and givers because it’s a heartfelt moment between the two. Tune in to the important gifts our Titans would give and why.
Nikenson Cajuste (10th)
“A special person I would give a gift to is my mom. I would give her a necklace from Pandora. I love her so much and she means a lot to me.”
Marissa Vincent (11th)
“I would give a gift to Charie because she’s one of my close friends. I would get her a pair of shoes because she loves getting shoes.”
Destiny Seecheran (12th)
“I would get my sister the whole Aladdin Collection from Pandora because her favorite princess is Princess Jasmine.”
Sydnee Massey (12th)
“I would get my mom perfume because she loves perfume and has a lot, so I would love to add to her collection.”
Karissa Siu Chock (10th)
“I would get Mr. Torres a 20 dollar Starbucks gift card because he likes Starbucks.”
Sadia Garcia (10th)
“I would give a friend a cute letter with some snacks and a candle.”
Ameliyah Wilson (11th)
“I would get my best friend a bouquet of flowers since no one else gets her any.”
Saniyah Rasul-Butler (10th)
“I would give my little sister a pandora bracelet because she loves bracelets.”
D’Nijah Johnson (11th)
“I would give my mom a soft ice making machine because she loves eating her ice.”
Denariah Johnson (9th)
“I would give a homeless person a check or some money to help them start over his or her life.”
Tra’Shyah Thomas (11th)
“I would give my little sister a teddy bear because she’s into dolls. She’s very destructive, so a teddy bear would be something nice and cute to give to her.”
