People say it comes earlier and earlier every year but no one seems to stop it. Secretly we want the holiday season to come as soon as possible and we never want it to end. The spirit of the holidays creates feelings and emotions that are only felt during the month of December. The music starts, the lights go up, and the air is filled with the scent of pines. No one can explain the magic that is felt, but it brings all walks of life together.
Family’s might not have the same traditions as the Griswalds (from National Lampoon’s Family Vacation) or get left home alone from a family vacation, but each family has something that makes their Christmas Special. No one can truly understand the corky traditions a family might have. From hand cutting a Christmas tree or getting a fully white- colored tree, the traditions are endless. There are the hand- made kindergarten ornaments that never seem to find the garbage and the ornaments that are too ugly to be on the front of the tree always make every family’s tree unique. Some may twinkle red, blue, white, or all of the above but all trees shine with some sort passion. A simple tree can show the character of an entire family, and on one day a year every one gathers around this object to share with each other the love they have for one another. If your tree is as small as Charlie Brown’s or as big as the one in Rockefeller Center it is the people around it that make a Christmas special.
Here are a few accounts of Christmas tree traditions from students at MHS with Madison Dodger Online (MDO) interviewing Georgia Turvey (GT) and Libby Johnson (LJ).
MDO: Georgia what are some Christmas tree traditions that your family has?
GT: My family doesn’t put ornaments on our tree we just put lights and top it off with an angel.
MDO: What is your favorite Christmas tree memory?
GT: My favorite part of the Christmas tree experience is picking the tree out. I have been doing it as long as I can remember.
MDO: Libby what are some Christmas tree traditions that your family celebrates?
LJ: One tradition that my family has followed every year is that we have had the same Christmas tree my whole life, so the tree is fake. Every year we build our Christmas tree instead of going out and buying one. Another tradition my family follows is buying the official white house ornament every year; we have ornaments dating back to 1987.