It’s my favorite time of the year! With winter break quickly approaching, I somehow found myself talking about the best holiday movies with my friends. When I mentioned Diehard was my favorite Christmas movie, they were shook. In fact, they immediately told me that Diehard was not a Christmas movie in any way. My friends got me thinking about all the debates that are usually brought up around this time of year. To satisfy my thirst for knowledge (and to also prove my friends wrong), I asked East High School’s opinions about Diehard and many more age-old holiday debates.

One of the questions I always hear is when is it an acceptable time to decorate for Christmas or begin playing Christmas music? A surprising 7% of the surveyed people said listening to Christmas music all year long is perfectly acceptable. Anshi Bhatnagar (junior) said that “gatekeeping a genre of music and pretty decorations seems pointless. It may not constitute as celebrating Christmas but more as enjoying the music and decor that it entails.” Despite their opinions, an overwhelming majority of people 48% agreed that after Thanksgiving is the most acceptable time. This sentiment was perfectly summed up by Grace Holland (senior) “In November, I'm usually still in fall mode, so I'm not ready to let go of the pumpkins on the front porch quite yet... but once Thanksgiving is over, bring on the holidays!!!”

The school couldn’t seem to come to a consensus on the issue of an artificial or real Christmas tree. In fact, it was split 50-50. One person said, “I chose an artificial tree cause I'm allergic to real trees.” Mr. Molush also said “Real trees are too messy and too much of a hassle to get/set up/throw away. And my cats eat the pine needles.” Another person also noted that “artificial trees are long-term investments because they are reusable year after year.” On the other side of the spectrum, someone said “it’s fun to go pick a tree and it smells nice.” Many other people seemed to agree with the statement by saying stuff like “It's fun to go get a tree with your whole family” and “A real tree smells better.”

Now it’s time for the most important question of this article, is Diehard a Christmas movie? Most people seemed to say yes, with 14% of people saying obviously and 22% saying yes. One of these people said “100% it takes place during Christmas and there is a Christmas party. Do you need more proof than that??” Gavin Hefferan (junior) also said, “The main themes of the movie revolve around family and love, which tie back to the season of Christmas.” Another person pointed out that “Christmas music is played. Movies that are not meant to be Christmas movies do not play Christmas music.” However, 15% of the people disagreed with the above reasoning. Alberto Castro de Freitas (sophomore) said, “Just because the setting is near Christmas does not mean that it is a Christmas movie.” Additionally, Noah Powers wrote, “I said no because the movie was released in July and it's more of a crime film than a Christmas movie.” What are your thoughts, is Diehard actually a Christmas or not?

One of the only questions that everyone seemed to have the same answer to was if people actually eat chestnuts. Despite the famous lyric “chestnuts roasting on an open fire,” 85% of the school have actually never eaten a chestnut. Although 12% of the people had eaten a chestnut before, they said “It wasn’t very good” and “It was not worth it." If anyone feels the need to finally have a chestnut this holiday season, you have been forewarned.

Apparently, there’s also a bit of a debate over whether candy canes are actually good or not. A majority of the people seemed to think they were good. One very enthusiastic person wrote, “LOVE THEM!!!!!! 10/10 WOULD RECOMMEND!!! I EAT THEM EVERY YEAR.” Despite the handful of candy cane fanatics, most people only had lukewarm feelings towards the striped Christmas candy. Morgan Wagner noted that “They are a mid-tier candy in general but their festivity makes them a top-tier Christmas candy.” Gavin Hefferan pointed out that “They are meh and the only reason anyone eats them is because of their symbolic value.” Although most people seemed to accept candy canes as “the lollipops of Christmas,” a handful of people seemed to disagree. One person said “Candy canes are kind of generic and boring. Only the fun fruit flavored ones are good.” Someone else flat out said, “they are the nastiest things in existence.” Yarrick Dillard (senior) also suggested that “If you suck them right, you can turn them into a shank.” Despite that interesting idea, I think I’ll just stick with eating them the normal way.

Most people in our school also seemed to agree that clothing makes a good present. 36% of the students, actually said they love it. One person wrote, “You can never have too many clothes!” Another person said, “Clothing is an awesome gift as long as it is something the person actually wants.” My personal favorite answer was “I love it. I require _d_r_i_p_.” About 36% of the students said clothing was just an okay present. Someone pointed out that “Clothing is okay, but you don't get a say in the style or size, so the clothes might not fight or match your wardrobe.” Eliot wrote, “It’s lazy but acceptable.”

When everyone had free rein to talk about whatever they wanted, some really interesting things got written. I’ve separated all the opinions into different categories below.

Movies:

• “Home Alone 1 and 2 are the best Christmas movies ever there is no reasonable argument”

• “Christmas Vacation is the best Christmas movie, a Christmas Story is garbage.”

• “Elf isn't that good of a movie…”

• “Iron Man 3 is a Christmas movie”

• “It's a Wonderful Life isn't a Christmas film.”

• “Contrary to popular belief, I believe that Nightmare Before Christmas, although has Christmas in the name, is not a Christmas movie! It was released closer to Halloween and I will fight for that til the end. Let Halloween have a win for once.”

Songs:

• “Simply Having a Wonderful Christmas Time" is the worst Christmas song ever written. It sounds like they made it up on the spot and it is an affront to the rest of Paul McCartney's illustrious musical career. Other horrible songs include "Dominick the Donkey," "I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus," "Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer," "Santa Baby," and "Christmas Wrapping." - Mr. Molush

• “Christmas music starts playing on the radio too early, and you can't change my mind.” - Alberto Castro De Freitas

• “I don’t like the song Do They Know Its Christmas.” - Teagan Wolff

• “I would rather lick a dead rat than listen to "All I Want for Christmas is You" by Mariah Carey” - Bob

• “Baby It's Cold Outside is a creepy song and gives me weird vibes. Like just let the girl leave, there is no way it's that cold outside!”

Other:

• “I don't like Christmas lights. At least not in my own house. They're pretty to look at but a pain to put up, so I'd rather not. Everyone should just get the 12 foot Home Depot skeletons and dress them up for different holidays. It's a year-round decoration that you never have to take down!”

• “I hate the "Elf on the shelf". Seems like you are blackmailing your children to be good.”

• “Eggnog is dirt.”

• “Christmas is losing its excitement, I just want off school at this point.”

• “White elephants suck because the gifts aren't for anyone specific so you're always bound to get a gift you don't like/need.” - Morgan Wagner