No matter what you celebrate during the holiday season, almost everyone has a holiday tradition. Our Forest Fire reporters went to classrooms throughout the school to discover some of the most interesting holiday traditions the student body has to offer. So, in honor of the holiday season, we present the 12 days of holiday traditions!

Gavin LaLone, 9

“We put a pickle on a the tree and it’s green and it’s hard to see and whoever finds it first gets some random gift my mom picked out.”

Reeves Palmer, 12

“I eat spaghetti and squid on Christmas eve every year.”

Alex Pirog, 9

“It’s a Christmas polish tradition called Wigilia. It’s on Christmas Eve and we cook lots of Polish meals and foods, and don’t eat meat until after this event. It’s at or before midnight.”

Anthony Anastasi, 12

“For the holidays my family and I travel to Louisburg to see my great grandmother and great grandfather and spend the holidays with them.”

Christopher Castillos, 11

“We buy the turkey two weeks in advance for Thanksgiving and we bring my grandma over from Romania.”

Jocelyn Morgan, 9

“We eat Italian cookies. We used to have those cookies a lot back in New Jersey and now is the only time we can find them.”

Aiden Sheehan, 10

“For Christmas, my whole family goes to my grandma’s house and we eat a lot of food and we give gifts. Every year my family makes “Jesus potatoes” which are potatoes that are cheesy. But instead of calling them cheesy potatoes, we call them jesus potatoes.”

Bilal Joseph Jr. 11

“We all get matching pajamas and sleepovers at my Grandma’s house.”

Ethan Brittain, 9

“One tradition we do is open one present on Christmas Eve. It’s special because me and my family are all together, and we just have a good time opening presents and spending the holidays together.”

While the student body has some interesting holiday traditions, so do our staff. Here are another 12 days worth of holiday traditions from our reporters.

Laian Shaker, 9

“My favorite tradition is when me and my family bake these strawberry jam cookies together and stay up playing board games and watching movies.”

Ella Bowman, 11

“My favorite tradition is when all of my siblings come home from college, and, on Christmas Eve, we drive around looking at Christmas lights while eating Domino’s pizza. It is just so fun to have all of the family home and spending genuine time with each other.”

Delaney Crowder, 9

“My family is obsessed with Christmas, so we always go overboard with decorating. We have 14 Christmas trees in our house, and I take great pride in seeing the shock on people’s faces when I tell them.”

Gabby Greene, 9

“Besides all of the desserts we make, every year my family has done a large Christmas scavenger hunt in a three vs. three. It’s always a funny and extremely enjoyable experience.”

Carson Lewis, 12

“Every year we make my great grandmother’s secret recipe for peanut butter cookies with peanut butter cream icing and watch a Christmas movie while we eat them.”

Evan Stogsdill, 12

“My family starts with stockings for each person, and all the pets. We put treats and toys in stockings for our cats and dogs. Then we eat breakfast and spend the day opening presents and spending time together with family. We usually play Jackbox games in the evening as well.”

Maya Gardiner, 11

“My family hides pickles in our tree, and whoever finds the smallest pickle wins.”

Branden Bollinger, 9

“My family and I decorate the house and the tree together, and we decorate gingerbread houses.”

Kaylyn Brittain, 12

“My family and I open one present on Christmas Eve, and most of the time it’s matching pajamas and hot chocolate for us to wear and make that night.”

Josh Rutland, 12

“My family always watches the ‘Polar Express’, sets our tree up at the same time, and drinks hot chocolate and sets all our house decorations up so that we’re Christmas themed at the Rutland household.” 

Meredith Adkins, 12

“My favorite holiday tradition is that my family and I go out on Christmas Eve, and we go to every gas station to try and find glass coke bottles, and when we do we go around all the neighborhoods and look at all the lights.”