Rachel Carson Middle School students celebrated Christmas on Dec. 25 but not everyone celebrates the cheerful holiday the same way. There are many different customs that define the holiday.

Carson prepared for the beginning of winter break on Thursday, Dec. 14 by having teachers stand on the front door staircase and singing Christmas carols. This made many students excited for the start of winter break.

Carson students all celebrate the holiday differently, and some don’t celebrate it at all. Instead, they celebrate holidays such as Hanukkah or Kwanzaa. “I don’t celebrate Christmas because I’m Muslim, but I still appreciate Christmas and other holidays,” said Manaal Syed, an eighth grader in C-Pod.

Christmas is a favorite holiday among many students and teachers. “Christmas is my favorite holiday because I get to enjoy being with my family and I get gifts, which is an added bonus to the holiday,” said Adith Chandrasekaran, an eighth grader on the Wolves team.

“I spent my Christmas with my family in Japan. It was nice to be around my family members, especially the ones who I don’t get to see often,” David Raw, an eighth grader on the Dolphins team said. Christmas is a holiday that students spend mostly with their family and sometimes their friends.

“I spent Christmas with all of my family. We ate lots of great food like ham and stuffed chicken. Afterwards, we lit fireworks outside our apartment complex and we sang a little bit of karaoke! It was a really fun day,” said Annie Munguia-Ortez, an eighth grader on the Voyagers team.

Christmas is usually celebrated with a large feast before opening the presents. In the feast, there may be food similar to food served at Thanksgiving.

An extremely popular tradition is giving presents to other people on Christmas day. Families with children usually have stocking stuffers in addition to the wrapped presents.

“For Christmas this year, I was really lucky. My parents gave me a new iPhone 8 along with a wireless charger. I also got some clothes and I got two pairs of shoes, checkered slip-on Vans and all white Roshe Ones. Some of my smaller gifts were candy and some gift cards. I’m extremely grateful to be given these things,” said Mikayla Glantz, an eighth grader on the Wolves team.

“I love Christmas because I love decorating the tree and spending time with my beloved family,” said Laura Church, a seventh grader on the Trailblazers team. This is another Christmas tradition among many households is decorating their Christmas tree with ornaments and colorful tinsel.  

Christmas music is also an extremely important part of the holiday too! There are millions of songs out there that celebrate the Christmas holiday or even the winter season. A popular one that almost all know is, “All I Want For Christmas Is You,” by Mariah Carey.

“Two of my favorite Christmas-themed songs are ‘Last Christmas’ and ‘Jingle Bell Rock.’ They’re constantly played on the radios around Christmas time, so of course they would be my all-time favorites!” said Fabricio Munguia-Ortez, a seventh grader on the Majestics team.

“Our tree was real, we got it at Costco! It was really tall, about 6 ft. It was skinny on the top and when it got to the bottom, it wasn’t big, but it was fat. The bottom branches stuck out too much and my mom put fake presents underneath the tree. There were about 50 ornaments, my favorite ornament was one that had a picture of me as a baby. We didn’t have any tinsel around the tree though,” Ethan Bower, an eighth grader on the Voyagers team said.

Christmas is a holiday where you can wear Santa hats, ugly sweaters, reindeer ears and crazy Christmas-themed socks. It’s a holiday where you can spend all your time listening to cheesy Christmas carols and songs. It’s celebrated with food, family, friends, presents and overall happiness.