In a recent poll of the high school, The Octagon asked students: what is your family’s special Christmas tradition?
“We have a Hanukkah party at my house every year and we have probably around 40 people come. One of the things we do is a dreidel tournament, so there’s about seven dreidel games going on, and those winners play each other.”—Sophomore Elie Kuppermann
Junior Clare Fina plays charades with her family.
“We do it most holidays. My grandma and my mom did it when they were younger so we’ve kept the tradition going.”—Clare Fina
Freshman Ryan Canepa watches the movie “Elf” every year with his family.
“It’s a funny movie that my family and I have always enjoyed. It’s just such a good movie, and we all love Will Ferrell.”—Ryan Canepa
“Every year before Christmas we sit together in front of the TV and watch the movie “A Child’s Christmas in Wales.” It’s something we’ve done for as long as I can remember. It’s just a cute, fun, feel-good movie.”—Senior Eric Hilton
Freshman Elena Lipman has dinner with her her family friends who are devout Christians, though she is Jewish.
“It’s interesting because I’m not really familiar with their traditions, but it’s nice learning. We kind of combine a lot of our celebrations [with the family’s] so we get more exposure.”— Elena Lipman
“My family’s in Miami, so every year we fly to Miami and I meet all my family from my mom’s side— and also my father’s mom who’s also there. We normally have a Christmas party at my grandmother’s house.”—Freshman Jaelan Trapp
Freshman Isabelle Leavy orders Chinese food every Christmas, an informal Jewish tradition her family takes part in though they aren’t Jewish.
“Around Christmas my family and I don’t like to make it very formal, so we order Chinese food and hang out in our pajamas all day and try to make it as chill as we possibly can.”—Freshman Isabelle Leavy
