By: Valentina Serrano-Gonzalez
It’s the holiday season, and there are some things Riverside students can begin to expect. For me, it’s placing the lights on our house, Christmas karaoke, staying up until midnight to open presents, and getting a break from school. But whatever they may be, traditions give us a chance to relive our favorite memories, especially around the holidays. I went on a hunt for some unique Christmas traditions from students at Riverside, and here are some of my favorites.
“We have a pickle ornament and every year me and my sister take turns hiding the pickle on the tree.”
– Olive Ashkenes (9)
Lauren Johnson (9)- “My family always makes cranberry relish for Christmas. The recipe has been passed down for a while.”
– Lauren Johnson (9)
“Eating Chocolate when I wake up with my sister. It’s like one of those advent calendars.”
– Maria Antunez (10)
“We do the Mexican traditions–we do tamales, we do this drink that is kind of boiled with fruit in it, it’s called ‘Ponche’ then we do tacos, we do different types of traditional Mexican food.”
– Carmela Jaimes-Primo (11)
“Our family likes to celebrate ‘Elf on The Shelf.’ We also do Secret Santa and like to build Christmas Gingerbread houses on Christmas Eve. And on Christmas day, we open all our gifts and then go hang out with family and get more gifts and then after that, we go to see Nights of Lights.”
– Brandon Goodson (9)
“Usually me and my family gather, like all of us come together on Christmas Eve and we have a dinner- sort of like thanksgiving, but we do that before Christmas. Then, everyone goes to my aunt’s house and we open presents.”
– Kristopher Swinney (10)
“We always do this thing where we pray around the tree and we put the angel on top of the tree, then we eat, open presents and just celebrate and chill.”
– Medko Delong (11)
“My entire family likes to go to Asheville with my grandparents and stay there, which is always fun.”
– Rebecca Mittchell (10)
