by Karli Kidd, Natalie Fullmer, and Genna Waldron

There are many different holiday traditions that fill the homes of students at MHS. It’s never too late to start a fun new tradition. Students that were interviewed shared their favorite traditions during the holiday season.

“My favorite Christmas tradition is that my whole family goes to my grandma’s house for Christmas and Christmas Eve. It’s really fun to see everyone and talk to everyone that you don’t always get to see,” Junior, Mason King said.

“Our family always goes up to our cabin in West Yellowstone and it’s like a big family reunion,” Sophomore, Bryn Schmidt said.

There are a variety of things that can bring that holiday feeling. Students at MHS expressed that food and family gatherings bring them holiday cheer. Such as Mason King and Nate Webb:  

“My grandparents cater Chik-fil-A on Christmas Eve.” King said.

“Every year we have a hot chocolate stand with my family up in Idaho Falls and we sell hot chocolate and we get donations so we can help a family out so this year we made $800 so we can help a family from Argentina get to the United States for Christmas,” Senior, Nate Webb said.

“I really love the Christmas time. It really brings joy to my heart. My family really likes to enjoy the snow. We always have a good tradition of drinking hot chocolate like every week. We drink hot chocolate a lot. It’s good. We always watch those cheesy Hallmark movies. I really like ‘The Grinch who stole Christmas’,”Junior, Preston Weber said.

Santa, candy canes, and hot cocoa are common among Christmas festivities, but there are not only Christmas traditions, but also New Year’s and New Year’s Eve traditions as well.

“On New Year’s Eve, when we were younger our parents would change the time on all the clocks to 4 hours earlier. So it was only 9 o’clock but we all thought it was midnight. We’d all go bang pots and pans at 9 o’clock then go to bed so my parents thought it was so great because they got to go to bed at 9 o’clock and not have to stay up,”Schmidt said.

There are many ways to carry on traditions big and small. It gives you something to anticipate through the long, dreary winter months. Whether you are staying at home, or going away for the holidays, traditions are heart-warming amid the icy temperatures.