Celebrating the Holidays

Christmas traditions leave a lasting memory on our childhood memories. Some traditions change generation to generation but many have stayed the same. Many people have different traditions and many people don’t celebrate the holiday. Traditions, in a way, are legacies our parents make for our childhood memory box that we carry with us.

One tradition that varies from family to family is the traditional holiday meal.  Mrs. Glenn, an English and Journalism teacher at Kenwood, says “My mother makes a huge Italian homemade dinner each year.” While her dinner represents her mom’s Italian heritage , others like Mrs Barr eat a meal that represents their state food culture. Mrs. Barr, an English and Yearbook teacher, shares, “We do a Christmas Eve dinner with seafood, an Italian tradition called Seven Fishes, although we only do like two.” Some have their big family meal on Christmas Eve, while others on Christmas day, or others celebrate as a family on a completely different day due to one another’s schedules. 

Another common family tradition with the Christmas holiday is gift giving. As a kid sometimes one of the most well loved traditions of Christmas is the one of gift giving. People often see the tradition of giving gifts as a way to show their love and appreciation for people in their lives. Some think focusing too much on the gift giving though takes away from the meaning of Christmas. Kenwood student India Watkins shares, “I didn’t tell my family and friends what I wanted for Christmas because I really just wanted to be around everyone and feel their presence, rather than receive presents.”

Riley May, a senior at Kenwood High School, says that her family has a tradition of “Kids buy each other gifts like a raffle.”  Some families or work families do something called Secret Santa where the adults buy each other gifts with a price limit and leave gifts without the receiver knowing whom the gift is from. 

If the saying “distance makes the heart grow fonder” is true then many after having skipped family gatherings last Christmas are looking forward to gathering this year. Many chose not to travel last Christmas to see any family and not seeing loved ones dampened some’s holiday spirit. “As someone who has spent many holidays traveling to see family, I always look more forward to the Christmases where I get to go home so traveling for the holidays is important to me,” shares Ms. Glenn. 

After the past two years, many have learned the lesson to not take people for granted and to treasure the holiday memories that get to be made. Whether you’re traveling or gathering with family to celebrate this year, participating in a traditional meal, or enjoying presents and presence with the ones you love, we wish you happy and holiday season! 

Eye of the Bluebird looks forward to being back to covering your Kenwood news in 2022!