Kristen describes how her family decorates for Christmas with three trees, garland, stockings, a model train set and village in their family room. They celebrate her birthday on Christmas day by opening one present each and then reading stories by the fire with hot cocoa and cookies after guests leave. On Christmas morning she opens her birthday present and then looks at and guesses what the other presents under the tree are before her parents wake up. When they come down they open presents while watching the Christmas parade then have cinnamon stuffed pancakes for breakfast before going to her grandma's house to open more presents, have dinner and birthday cake.

2. Kristen
• For Christmas my family and I
decorate the house with lights,
garland, stockings, trains and
nutcrackers. We have three trees.
Two real trees and one fake tree.
Under one of the trees we have a
Polar Express train (a train from a
movie) that smokes and blows a
whistle. It runs on a train track and
we have a little mini village with
miniature people in it. That tree
goes in our family room, where we
put the presents around. The tree
is decorated with fun ornaments
that are special to my family,
rainbow lights and tinsel.

4. My Birthday is Christmas!
•
We have cake for my birthday. Each
person opens one present. After
everyone leaves, my mom and dad and I
read some Christmas stories by the fire
while drinking hot cocoa and eating
cookies. On Christmas morning I wake up
and open my birthday present in my
room, since my birthday is on Christmas. I
then go downstairs and look at all the
presents and try to guess what they are
before my parents wake up. When they
come down we open our presents while
watching the Christmas parade. Then we
have breakfast. For breakfast we have
cinnamon stuffed pancakes. Then around
two o’clock we go over to my grandma’s
house and open more presents, have
dinner, and then cake for my birthday.

5. Mya
• I celebrate the holidays by decorating my
Christmas tree while listening to Christmas
themed songs. For example my mom
bought the Mariah Carey Christmas album,
along with the Beyonce album. On
December 2nd is when we put up the tree.
Only because my mom will not put it up
before than. I would have the Christmas
tree up in July. In my house we make
cookies, and sit around the tree while
drinking hot Chocolate. On Christmas
morning I wake everyone up at 6 am on the
dot and we start opening presents. This is
how I celebrate Christmas, and Christmas is
my favorite holiday.

6. Sara
Christmas in the Mendoza Household~!
Christmas in my family is a time of joy, cheer, and
seeing family. At my house, we celebrate by
setting up a nativity on the mantle of our
fireplace. This year, we put our Christmas tree
right next to it. We also put our stockings on the
mantle, but we only hang them up on Christmas
Eve, when my mom puts the presents in all of
them, and under the tree as well. When I was
little, I used to think that Santa Claus was the one
who put the presents under the tree and in the
Christmas stockings, but now I know that my
mom is the one who does that. We also decorate
our front door with lights and a garland, and put
a wreath up as well. We also get to see family
during Christmas-time and give them presents. I
usually make presents for other people. For
example, I always make my mom scarves
because I enjoy silk painting. I also enjoy
receiving presents from other people and being
on break from school.

7. Grant
For my family, our Christmas celebrations start two
weeks before the day of Christmas when we go to a
tree farm to pick out our Christmas tree. We stand
the tree in our living room and let the branches
loosen and come down. We then decorate the tree
with beautiful ornaments and place a star on the
top of the tree. We also hang stockings on our
fireplace. On Christmas Eve we have a huge party at
our house and all of my relatives come to celebrate.
The party goes until about one or two in the
morning. When they finally leave, we go to sleep
and wake up very late the next morning. We all go
downstairs and eat a big breakfast then head into
the living room where there are many presents
underneath the Christmas tree. We all take turns
opening our presents and take a lot of pictures. The
day after Christmas we take down the tree and burn
it.

8. Anjali

10. Señora Perry y Rippowam Cisqua
¡Feliz Año Nuevo!

16. Revelry
At Revelry, the kids dance traditional dances (such as
the stick dance, sword dance, and Pavanne, sing songs
such as The Boar’s Head Carol where they carry in a
fake pig’s head on a platter, the Peace Round, Dona
Nobis Pacem and other holiday songs. This year two of
our students choreographed dances while other
students sang and played instruments. It is quite
lovely. There are Christmas trees with lights and
Poinsettia plants on the stage and they have a light
that looks like a huge snowflake that shines on the
stage. It is the last thing before our winter break.

17. See you soon !