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There’s a chill in the air, and darkness comes early.

Fortunately, there are many celebrations to brighten things up this time of year. From Christmas to Kwanzaa, from Hanukkah to Chinese New Year, these festivities warm up the season and fill it with color and light!

The Three Things of Christmas

by Young Reporter Briana Williams, Arizona Desert

Every Christmas we do three different things. The first is we all say,

“Yá’át’ééh Késhmish.” In Navajo that translates to “Hello Christmas.” The second thing we do is secret Santa. Secret Santa is when you put everyone’s names on different pieces of paper. Then everyone draws (a name) and doesn’t tell anyone the name they got. When you have time, you go shopping for the person you got.

The very last is finding the pickle in the tree. The pickle in the tree has been a tradition for as long as I can remember. It’s a fake cut out pickle that is hidden in your Christmas tree. Whoever finds the pickle Christmas morning gets an extra gift.

Making Tamales and Playing in the Snow!

by Young Reporter Alyxandra Rodrigues, Arizona Desert

There are many Christmas traditions that my family does. For example, making tamales on Christmas Eve for Christmas Day. Also, on Christmas Eve the whole family is allowed to open one gift. On Christmas Day after we are done opening gifts, we go up into the mountains and play in the snow.

Feast Celebrates Italian Culture

by Joseph Pensiero

A couple of days before Christmas, my family flies to Connecticut to visit my nono and nona (Italian grandparents). On Christmas eve, all of my relatives come to my grandparents’ house and at dinnertime we all eat “the feast of the seven fishes,” which is an Italian-American tradition. My relatives give me gifts on Christmas Day. Also on Christmas Day we fly back to Arizona and go home and sleep, then the day after we open up gifts at our house.

Christmas Pajamas, French Toast Bake and Presents Make It Fun!

by Young Reporter Gabrielle Grant, Arizona Desert

For Christmas, my family eats one special breakfast every year. It’s called French toast bake. The day before Christmas we open our Christmas pajamas from gift boxes. When we open our presents, we call our family members and tell them “Merry Christmas!”

Our family gets a calendar for the 25 days of Christmas and we decorate our house. We have an elf on the shelf named Glitter Sparkles.

Haunted House Tradition Scares Up Fun!

by Young Reporter Aeneas Pedregó, Homeschool

Want a good thrill that will bring your family together? Well, I’ve got one. My favorite holiday tradition is where my family makes our own haunted house. It started when Covid hit and everything was closed down. I wanted to go to a haunted house, so my mom said we could make one at home!

While setting it up, I can’t help but think about how fun it’s going to be to go through after we’ve finished. We have to get creative with how we make it. For example, one year we made a fake storm using a fan, hanging streamers and turning on a strobe light for lightning. We always use our stuffed animals by hanging them up or arranging them in creepy scenes. Once, we tied jump ropes to chairs so we had a giant spider web we had to crawl through to get to the other side!

At dusk, we finally get to do the haunted house ourselves. It can be pretty scary because my mom uses eerie music and frightening voices. Plus, she hides scares, like our Ghostface mask, in places that I don’t know about. Another scare was when my mom threw bouncy balls at us, pretending they were eyeballs! I thought it was funny, but it made my brother jump.

It became a family tradition because I liked it so much the first time, I asked to do it again and again!

Making My Own Pumpkin Pie!

by Daniel Joseph Gordon Jr.

Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday. Pie, turkey and food that night is always the best time of my life. For a couple of years I went to places in California for Thanksgiving with my family, eating the traditional turkey with stuffing, pie and more. Within the last couple years I have been making delicious pumpkin pie every year. This year, my dad and I made pie, steak, rice and asparagus. And topped off with Ben & Jerry’s ice cream.

We Have Fun in the Snow

by Amelia Olszewski

My family’s Christmas traditions are on Christmas eve we prepare food, like lots of food. After we get ready, family comes over and we eat Christmas dinner. Unlike others, it’s a tradition to open presents on Christmas eve after dinner. Also, during winter every year, we go snowboarding, skiing and snow tubing.

Light the Candles for Hanukkah

by Michael Salinas

My family celebrates Hanukkah. During Hanukkah we spin a dreidel and win chocolate. My family lights a candle each day of Hanukkah.

Thanksgiving & Christmas—Twice!

by Mackenna Allen

I have two Thanksgivings and two Christmasses! Both are really similar—the only thing different is one is American and the other is Marshallese (from the Marshall Islands in the Pacific).

We cook up big meals and send time with family. When I’m with my mom’s family, it’s small but really fun with my great grandma, who cooks yummy treats, and my great aunt and great cousin come to see me and my siblings.

When I’m with my dad’s family, it’s really big. I have 11 cousins around my age and four aunts…we cook a lot of food and sing songs with my dad’s piano. We all pray to God, and we always have fun doing both families.

We Love to Decorate!

by Aaliyah Delgado

My holiday traditions are very calm and easygoing. My family loves decorating our tree with sparkling lights and priceless ornaments! I love baking cookies that are so sweet and decorating with garlands and snowmen! Listening to Christmas songs while in the car driving, we love seeing our town’s Christmas lights! On Christmas Day we cozy up by the fire, open gifts and enjoy each other’s company. I love this time of year so much— Merry Christmas!

Homemade Ornaments, Fake Christmas Tree

by Roman Ballew

For the holidays my family doesn’t really do very much. The one thing that we do is put up a tree and decorate it with homemade ornaments. My family has never gotten a real tree for fear of termites (which I don’t really get) so we have a nice fake tree. The holidays are time for love and family, so I hope you have a happy holiday.