As December progresses, families everywhere are celebrating with their annual holiday traditions, enjoying the events, food, songs, and movies that generally accompany their joyful spirits. I sent out a survey to East students and teachers to discover some of their holiday favorites!
Traditions
Some of the most popular traditions among the survey’s respondents include baking Christmas cookies, decorating, driving around to look at lights, and watching holiday movies. Two individuals mentioned that they love to play board games with their families each year.
A few students said that Boxing Day is one of their favorite parts of the holiday season. Celebrated on December 26th and most popular in countries such as the UK, Australia, and New Zealand, Boxing Day is traditionally a day of giving to the poor.
Ella Prieto says that “preparing and enjoying the seven fishes on Christmas Eve,” an Italian tradition, is her personal favorite. One respondent loves to “watch the Christmas NBA games at [their] grandparent's house.” Ms. Flynn (our Norse Code advisor!) likes to go to Longwood Gardens to see the lights, and Ms. McAleer looks forward to “decorating the Christmas tree with [her] family.”
Another student says, “I'm from Georgia (the U.S state) and most people in my county usually had a crab boil for Christmas. My family adopted this tradition and carried it here. Crab is now one of my favorite foods and it always makes me happy to have it.”
Max Bradley says that his favorite holiday tradition is Christmas sweaters. At the end of the survey, when asked if they had any additional comments, another student stated that “ugly sweaters are underrated.”
Lastly, this respondent is clearly not a morning person: “Christmas is the one day of the year that I'll voluntarily wake up early.”
Movies
I asked the survey participants for their favorite holiday movies, and some popular ones include A Christmas Story, Elf, and Christmas Vacation. There were also singular votes for A Christmas Carol, The Polar Express, The Santa Clause 2, The Christmas Chronicles, The Star, and, lastly, the Harry Potter films (because, according to one student, “AT LEAST HALF OF THEM FEATURE CHRISTMAS SOMEHOW”). Yarrick Dillard shared, “I really love Terminator with Arnold Schwarzenegger. It's not really a holiday movie, but I watched it last Christmas.”
I was also curious to know if there’s any festive films that East students do not enjoy - and there were undoubtedly some differences in opinion.
Some respondents claim that they do not have a least favorite holiday movie, while another says that they would consider “all of them” least favorites. Also, although five people identified Home Alone as their favorite holiday movie, two respondents are not fans of this holiday classic. I’d love to hear this debate play out. Personally, I could never dislike Home Alone, simply due to the presence of Catherine O’Hara (Moira!) herself. She is GREAT at playing characters with questionable parenting skills. Is it realistic that someone would accidentally leave her 8 year old kid at home during a family vacation? Maybe not, but O’Hara can make anything believable.
And the topic we’ve all been waiting for: Hallmark Christmas movies. Yeah, they all have very similar plots. And yes, many of them star a now grown-up DJ Tanner from Full House. The real question, though, is whether or not the average person can sit through these cinematic attempts. I received a couple of positive responses about these movies, including, “I like to watch the Christmas Hallmark movies. The plot may be pretty much the same every time, but it's fun to at least laugh at!” I also find bad movies very entertaining, so I have to agree with this one.
Not everyone can tolerate the Hallmark channel each December, though. When asked if there’s any holiday movies she dislikes, Amanda Taylor said, “Hallmark. Every year... non stop... always on... tell my mom she's traumatizing me.” We can conclude from this statement that the holiday rom-coms aren’t for everyone!
Some other disliked films that were mentioned in the survey include Elf and A Christmas Story (unpopular opinions), as well as Jingle All the Way. While one person chose Rudolph as their favorite holiday movie, another student seems to avoid the reindeer: “anything claymation scares me a little bit.” Yarrick Dillard says that his least favorite holiday movie is “that one with the guy from SNL who wore the green hat.” I can’t say I know what he’s referring to, but I will take his word for it. Note to self: don’t watch the Christmas movie with the guy from SNL who wore the green hat.
I have to place particular emphasis on this response: “the live-action Grinch is pretty bad.” I have been in an ongoing debate with one of my friends over this topic (she knows who she is) and am glad to have someone on my side. That movie scares me.
Dominique Dillard states, “It's a bit controversial, but I love Diehard.” Is this a Christmas movie? Honestly … I haven’t seen it, so I couldn’t tell you. (Check out Dominique's holiday debate article for more opinions on this controversy!)
Foods
Next, here is a list of foods and drinks that some of East’s students and staff enjoy around the holidays:
Chocolate chip cookies
Thumbprint cookies
Hot chocolate
Baked ziti
Mince pies
Cinnamon hot bread
Caramel bars
Mashed potatoes
Cranberry sauce
Cranberry orange Christmas
Croissant rolls
Tamales
Mint chocolate cookies
Caramel toffees
Candy cane cookies
Ms. McAleer loves to bake Christmas cookies: “I always make 3 dozen+ of 10 different kinds!” Ms. Flynn's go-to holiday coffee is a peppermint mocha latte.
Some responses included foods that are enjoyed at any time of the year. One student says, “It's not limited to the holiday season, but usually, a staple of these Christmas parties is my mom's homemade guac, along with cheese rolls.” Yarrick Dillard chose a Wendy’s burger as his favorite holiday food.
Songs
Among the survey respondents, the most popular Christmas song is “All I Want For Christmas Is You.” Here are some other favorites:
“Run Rudolph Run”
“I love Last Christmas, Like It's Christmas, I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus, and My Kind of Present” - Dominique Dillard
“Let It Snow”
“Chestnuts Roasting” by Nat King Cole
“Happy Xmas (WAR IS OVER)” by John Lennon
“Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)”
“We Three Kings”
“Believe”
“Cold December Night” by Michael Bublé
“(There’s No Place Like) Home for the Holidays” by Perry Como
“I actually prefer instrumental holiday songs, but I'll listen to all of them.”
“Dominick the Donkey”
Rockin Around the Christmas Tree, it's underrated.
“Underneath the Tree" by Kelly Clarkson
“Anything by Michael Bublé” - Amelia McKee
“Carol of the Bells! But my family's favorite song is Dominic the Donkey!” - Ms. McAleer
“The Christmas Song”
While some students claim that they don’t have any least favorites, these are the holiday songs that others criticized:
“Frosty the Snowman”
“Santa Baby”
“Stretchy Pants”
“Those songs pop singers make that just have like sleigh bells in the back” - Yarrick Dillard
“Jingle Bells (like I love the song but it’s just used a lot)”
“Here Comes Santa Claus”
Pentatonix remixes
“Twelve Days of Christmas”
“Baby It’s Cold Outside”
Ms. Flynn is not a fan of “Dominick the Donkey.”
Additional Celebrations
Before concluding this article, I’d like to highlight some other popular traditions, in addition to the ones mentioned in the survey responses!
This year, Hanukkah began on November 28th and ended on December 6th. Some of the festivities include lighting the menorah on each of the eight nights, playing dreidel, and eating traditional foods, such as latkes and jelly donuts. Many families participate in a gift exchange during their celebrations; one popular gift is gelt, or coins, which can be real or made of chocolate.
As Christmas Day approaches, many families set out their Elf on the Shelf or open advent calendars. Friend groups and families participate in popular gift exchanges, such as White Elephant or Secret Santa. Celebrations in Mexico include the Posada, or parties that take place from the 16th-24th of December. In Holland, children wait for Sinterklaas to leave gifts in their shoes. Many citizens of Iceland exchange books on Christmas Eve.
Kwanzaa starts on December 26th and lasts until January 1st. This holiday, which celebrates African culture, consists of a ceremony in which one candle is lit every night, each one representing an important principle of Kwanzaa. Other significant aspects of the holiday include a feast and traditional African music.
Happy holidays from the Norse Code!
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