Kristen • For Christmas my family and I

decorate the house with lights, garland, stockings, trains and nutcrackers. We have three trees. Two real trees and one fake tree. Under one of the trees we have a Polar Express train (a train from a movie) that smokes and blows a whistle. It runs on a train track and we have a little mini village with miniature people in it. That tree goes in our family room, where we put the presents around. The tree is decorated with fun ornaments that are special to my family, rainbow lights and tinsel.

My Birthday is Christmas!• We have cake for my birthday. Each

person opens one present. After everyone leaves, my mom and dad and I read some Christmas stories by the fire while drinking hot cocoa and eating cookies. On Christmas morning I wake up and open my birthday present in my room, since my birthday is on Christmas. I then go downstairs and look at all the presents and try to guess what they are before my parents wake up. When they come down we open our presents while watching the Christmas parade. Then we have breakfast. For breakfast we have cinnamon stuffed pancakes. Then around two o’clock we go over to my grandma’s house and open more presents, have dinner, and then cake for my birthday.

Mya • I celebrate the holidays by decorating my

Christmas tree while listening to Christmas themed songs. For example my mom bought the Mariah Carey Christmas album, along with the Beyonce album. On December 2nd is when we put up the tree. Only because my mom will not put it up before than. I would have the Christmas tree up in July. In my house we make cookies, and sit around the tree while drinking hot Chocolate. On Christmas morning I wake everyone up at 6 am on the dot and we start opening presents. This is how I celebrate Christmas, and Christmas is my favorite holiday.

Sara Christmas in the Mendoza Household~!

Christmas in my family is a time of joy, cheer, and seeing family. At my house, we celebrate by setting up a nativity on the mantle of our fireplace. This year, we put our Christmas tree right next to it. We also put our stockings on the mantle, but we only hang them up on Christmas Eve, when my mom puts the presents in all of them, and under the tree as well. When I was little, I used to think that Santa Claus was the one who put the presents under the tree and in the Christmas stockings, but now I know that my mom is the one who does that. We also decorate our front door with lights and a garland, and put a wreath up as well. We also get to see family during Christmas-time and give them presents. I usually make presents for other people. For example, I always make my mom scarves because I enjoy silk painting. I also enjoy receiving presents from other people and being on break from school.

GrantFor my family, our Christmas celebrations start two weeks before the day of Christmas when we go to a tree farm to pick out our Christmas tree. We stand the tree in our living room and let the branches loosen and come down. We then decorate the tree with beautiful ornaments and place a star on the top of the tree. We also hang stockings on our fireplace. On Christmas Eve we have a huge party at our house and all of my relatives come to celebrate. The party goes until about one or two in the morning. When they finally leave, we go to sleep and wake up very late the next morning. We all go downstairs and eat a big breakfast then head into the living room where there are many presents underneath the Christmas tree. We all take turns opening our presents and take a lot of pictures. The day after Christmas we take down the tree and burn it.

Anjali

Señora Perry y Rippowam Cisqua

¡Feliz Año Nuevo!

Revelry

At Revelry, the kids dance traditional dances (such as the stick dance, sword dance, and Pavanne, sing songs such as The Boar’s Head Carol where they carry in a fake pig’s head on a platter, the Peace Round, Dona Nobis Pacem and other holiday songs. This year two of our students choreographed dances while other students sang and played instruments. It is quite lovely. There are Christmas trees with lights and Poinsettia plants on the stage and they have a light that looks like a huge snowflake that shines on the stage. It is the last thing before our winter break.

See you soon !