Let’s Celebrate!

With the winter holidays arriving, families and friends prepare for different way ways of celebrating. Some plan hot dinners that fill the room with a homey aroma, some organize large family and friend get-togethers, and others enjoy annual traditions with their loved ones. Some celebrate culture, and religion, others cherish staying at home with loved ones, snuggled up and enjoying each other’s company.

History teacher Jasmine Kelly-Pierce’s family combines a birthday inspiration with Christmas.

“It started out with my mom’s friend’s birthday being on Christmas” she said, “and her getting tiny gifts, and so she thought it was a good idea, so she began getting ‘Toki dokis’ for me and my sister.”

In addition Jasmine explained that “Toki Dokis” are little surprise boxes so “you don’t know which one you’ll get!”

Freshman Wynter Johnson said her family’s celebrations grew out of seeing each other only every so often. One of her favorite thing to do is “cap on each other,” she said.

For junior Yoanfranco Ochoa the winter holidays are all about family. They hang out, and drink ponche and champurrado. He plays video games with his cousins, mainly “Master Chief”.

“Then at 12:00 (midnight) we gather around the tree to hand out gifts and take family pictures, then sleep at the same house,” he wrote in response to an informal survey. (“The sleeping at the same house tradition isn’t constant though!” he added.)

Thirteen students and staff responded to the survey by The Eastside Panther. Most said they celebrate Christmas and everyone emphasized family.