The month of holidays is upon us, December is filled with many holidays celebrated by many different people in many different ways.  During this month there is Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, Boxing Day and more. Many people have their own special traditions that put their own little spins on the holidays. Some traditions are passed on from their parents when people are kids, some are developed when they become adults and think of their own, and some take inspiration from others. 

David Tracewell, CKHS English teacher, Celebrates his Christmas a bit differently than most.

“While people are Black Friday (shopping), we’d rather go and get a tree and then we trim the tree together,” said Tracewell. “We always select as a family, one ornament that year, now the tree is pretty full with all the ornaments from over the years.” 

Black Friday takes place the day after Thanksgiving, the majority of people spend this day eating leftovers and shopping in person or online to help save money on Christmas presents. Most families on Christmas have a traditional Christmas dinner, this usually consists of ham, mashed potatoes, some sort of pie, rolls and more. 

“Where most American families might have like turkey or ham, in my family we always have Portuguese bean soup which is a recipe from my kid’s great grandmother that she brought from Portugal and then passed down to her granddaughter and ended up on the island of Kawaii,” Said Tracewell.

On the day after Christmas most people spend their time using their gifts or playing with the toys that their parents got us but Patrick Leonard does something out of the ordinary. Most popular traditions are watching Christmas movies, setting up a Christmas tree, hanging mistletoe, or decorating their house. 

“The day after Christmas we draw one of the family names, like out of a hat and that person goes skydiving and the rest of us go and watch,” said Leonard. “My dad started wanting to skydive and he never did it, and then it just kind of turned into a tradition.”

Some people celebrate their holidays by going to specially hosted events and festivals. Some festivals that take place here in Silverdale are the Hallmark Christmas Festival in Leavenworth. Michael Brenner has been attending and celebrating at a special festival since he was young. 

“There is a festival called Mochi Tsuki and it happens on Japanese New Year which sometimes it’s a little earlier, so it’s basically the pounding out of mochi,” said Brenner. “My mom would always go and just have fun. I mean it’s a good time. It’s more in Southern California where it’s food related and there was the other things other than just taiko drums, but it’s always nice and I can feel a lot closer to my culture.”

The holidays are a special time to spend with loved ones and enjoy quality time with people and build traditions with the people you care about. Enjoy the holidays

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