Most people have a special tradition when it comes to the holiday season. Many enjoy and feel comfort each year spending time with their families. Junior Kara Thomasson loves spending the holidays with her family and looks forward to the many traditions she shares with them.

The first recorded date of Christmas being celebrated on December 25th was in 336, during the time of the Roman Emperor Constantine who was the first Christian Roman Emperor. After a few years, Pope Julius The First officially declared that the birth of Jesus would be celebrated on the 25th of December. Most everyone is excited for the holiday season, and as for Thomasson, she has a few traditions with her family. “Every Christmas morning I wake up and I go out into my living room and wait about an hour for the rest of my family to come. Then, they come out and we open up our presents from each other and then we clean up around the house. And then later in the day, our grandparents come over and we open more gifts and eat and they stay until 5 o’clock. Every year, my dad and I go and get a Christmas tree together from a place off of Manchester next to Steak ‘n’ Shake and in front of the Hobby Lobby.” Thomasson said.

Americans trace the Thanksgiving holiday to a 1621 celebration at the Plymouth Plantation, where the settlers held a harvest feast after a successful growing season. The Pilgrims celebrated at Plymouth for three days after their first harvest in 1621. Senior Lanese Farr enjoys spending time with her family on Thanksgiving Day. “For Thanksgiving dinner, I make cards with everybody’s names on it and all of their favorite things and then we pick after dinner. Everybody has a person to buy gifts for. On Christmas we usually wake up at 9 o’clock and we open presents and my mom cooks breakfast, we get dressed, then we go to my dad’s mother’s house and we put ornaments on her tree that we made and then we go to my mother’s mother’s house and we collect gifts and exchange gifts and we give her the cookies that we made.” Farr said.

The Holiday season is approaching, and a lot of us look forward to the many traditions we have with our families. It is such a special time to come together and celebrate.