What GHC students are looking forward to this holiday season

By Milan Nguyen

While many of the winter holidays are based upon specific religious or cultural traditions, many people anticipate the holidays for other reasons, like simply enjoying the holiday feeling. For these people, the holidays offer time to spend with friends and family, time to relax, or time to enjoy seasonal traditions like peppermint hot chocolate.

Senior Rachel Orkin celebrates Christmas, not for religious reasons, but for atmosphere and other factors. She looks forward to the holiday season for relaxation.

“My favorite part about the holidays is the sense of happiness that school is ending, the festive atmosphere, the presents, and the weather at night. It is important to me because it means I can relax and do what I want throughout the week,” Orkin said.

This feeling of relaxation can have benefits for students. For senior Aaron Montallana, the holidays give him time to rest and to look after his mental health.

¨The spirit of Christmas helps me take my mind off of the stress I would normally feel during school and, by extension, at home as I would normally be worried about getting schoolwork done on time,” Montallana said.

Other students use the holidays as an opportunity to hang out with family. To them, the most important part about the holidays is spending time with loved ones.

¨Christmas helps me have more time with my family. A lot of that time is spent eating delicious food. I celebrate Christmas traditionally, by buying gifts and eating a feast,” senior Michelle Worne said.

What these students, as well as many other students, have in common is that they feel the “spirit” of the holidays. The “spirit” of the holidays is the atmosphere and emotions a person has during the holidays. It doesn’t matter whether they celebrate for religious and/or culture reasons, many people see it as a time of giving and a time to spend with loved ones.

The holiday season often allows people a time of introspection and a way to show appreciation toward others. The holidays mean many different things to each individual student. However, most students see the holidays as something important to them.