Caedyn: My holidays are somewhat standard. Every Thanksgiving, on my mom’s side, I visit my grandparents house in Bethlehem for Thanksgiving day breakfast. We typically have eggs, bacon, pancakes, french toast casserole, and fruit. Sometimes we watch holiday movies, but most of the time we just talk and spend time together. For dinner this year, I’m staying home and having turkey, mash potatoes, cranberry sauce, rolls, corn, different casseroles, and sweet potatoes with marshmallows. On my dad’s side, we visit my grandparent’s house and have a Dominican feast which usually consists of rice and beans, empanadas, platanos, coconut candy, chicken wings, and yucca. 

Madi: Around the holidays my family and I like to decorate our entire house by putting lights on the trees and having a light-up snowman and angel in front of the house door. Leading up to the holiday break, I bake many cookies such as chocolate chip, cut out sugar cookies, peanut butter, and peanut butter hershey kiss cookies. I also like to try to bake a challenging desert for my family and I to eat after Christmas dinner. Before the holiday break, my family and I like to go to at least one walk through light show, one of our favorites being the “Winter Light Spectacular” at the Lehigh Valley Zoo.

Gigi: When it comes to the holidays, my family likes to keep it simple but fun. Every Thanksgiving, we have a big dinner with our cousins either at our house or their house depending on the year. Normally, we have a big dinner which consists of turkey, pernil, mashed potatoes, collard greens, mac and cheese, sweet potatoes, pasteles, pastelitos de guayaba, and quesitos. After the big dinner, we normally have a late night hang out which can consist of watching movies, playing video games, or just relaxing. 

Shaiyan: During the holiday season, my family and I try our best to spend as much time as possible together as we are all very busy most of the year. None of my relatives live nearby, so my immediate family comes together to have a small Thanksgiving meal. The dinner usually consists of chicken, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, stuffing, green beans, and cranberry sauce. Every year, my mom and I make the cranberry sauce together from scratch. During this meal, we usually talk about things we are grateful for as well as talk about our lives. After dinner, we usually watch the evening NFL Thanksgiving game. 

Maddi Haines: For Thanksgiving, my family all gets together because I have a very big family and we all celebrate together. For Christmas all of my grandparents come to my house and we do our whole family Christmas together. My family is very close and the holidays bring us all together and Christmas is definitely the most important holiday for us because we all come together to celebrate. For New Years eve we all go to my grand-parents log cabin in the mountains and watch the ball drop together. 

Danica: This year, our Thanksgiving strayed away from our normal traditions. We were unable to visit family, so we had our own, small, but delicious feast. One of my favorite traditions that we were able to adhere to is setting up the Christmas tree the day after Thanksgiving. My parents set up the fake tree and string lights on it, then the kids come in and place many ornaments around the faux needles. 

Jake: Typically during the holiday season, my family gets together to celebrate. Thanksgiving usually consists of our entire family enjoying dinner together. I also celebrate Hanukkah and my mom used to set up scavenger hunts for my sister and I to complete and find our gifts. That activity used to be one of my favorite holiday traditions and is one that I hope to pass on to my kids when I am older.

Gabby: Every holiday season I get to see both sides of my family. My parents, sister, and I typically go to one side for Thanksgiving and one for Christmas Eve, and then we alternate the next year. My family is not religious, but we do enjoy celebrating Christmas and decorating our house every year. We get our tree on Black Friday, specifically a concolor fir (it smells like oranges!!!) My favorite holiday foods that my family makes are mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce, and pumpkin roll. I love getting to open presents on Christmas Day with my grandparents, and going with them to New York City the day after Christmas (in a non-covid year.) Typically my holiday would close with spending time with my cousins on New Year’s Eve and ringing in the new year with them.

Angie: Throughout the years, my family has made it a tradition to spend it at my house. When I was little, my whole entire family, including aunts, uncles, and cousins, would all spend it with each other at one house for each holiday. However, since my family has grown drastically throughout the years, we now enjoy keeping it simple with more immediate family. For Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Years my mom prepares the food with help from me, my sister, and my sister in-law. We serve a lot of italian food during Christmas since it’s our family’s tradition. We try our best to make Christmas especially special for my nieces and nephew.