Houses light up with multicolored lights, presents pile up under the Christmas tree, and families gather around the crackling fire to fend off the cold. There is no doubt that the joyous season is finally here. Every family has their own Christmas Eve or Christmas day tradition, whether it’s going to church or singing Christmas carols by the piano.

Cami Bern

Christmas carols fill junior Cami Bern’s house each Christmas season as family members gather around the piano to sing holiday songs.

“Each kid has to play the piano and then we read the Bible story of Jesus’ birth,” said Bern.

Before her brothers moved on to college, her whole family used to drive around town to see the bright Christmas lights on Christmas Eve. When Christmas morning arrives, her grandparents come over to her house again and everyone opens their presents and eats lunch together. Usually ham is served, but now that everyone is a vegetarian except for Cami, that might change. This has been their tradition for almost 22 years.

Alex Beamer

Every year on Christmas Eve, sophomore Alex Beamer and his family invite over friends, whom they have known for a very long time, to eat tamales at his house. When the clock strikes seven, Beamer and his family head over to a church service. When Christmas Day arrives, his cousins come over, as well as his grandparents and step-grandmother and a grand dinner takes place with typical foods like ham, turkey, and mash potatoes.

The holiday time is never complete without watching Christmas movies with loved ones. Every year around Christmas time, Beamer and his family sit down and watch two Christmas movies: “Christmas Vacation” and “A Christmas Story.”

Beamer’s favorite thing about Christmas is having his family together and “this sense of kindness that people seem to get around Christmas.”

Brianna Houska

When it comes to Christmas, eating Vánočka bread is senior Brianna Houska’s favorite tradition. Vánočka bread originated from Czech Republic and Slovakia and is traditionally eaten on Christmas. It’s a braided bread, made richly in eggs and butter. For as long as Houska can remember, eating Vánočka has always been a tradition in her family.

“It’s like my favorite thing ever and we only ever get it the week of Christmas, so it’s fresh and I look forward to it every single year. But our family has been doing it probably before I was born,” Houska said.

Whitney Tice

For as long as sophomore Whitney Tice can remember, every year on Christmas Eve she and her family attend service at her church called Reality. There is an extravagent dinner at their house with her siblings, her parents, and both sets of grandparents. When Tice was younger, her family would have a Christmas dinner at her house and then again at her grandparents’ house with her aunt, uncle, and cousins.

“We always have crab, and so we do that and we get to open one present on Christmas Eve,” she said.

In the morning, the rest of the presents are opened and then a delicious brunch takes place at her house that her mother always prepares. After brunch, the Tice family goes to see a movie and then a walk on the beach and another family dinner takes place that night.

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Haley Lowe

Every year on Christmas Eve, sophomore Haley Lowe and her family attend service at Ventura Missionary, where they sing songs, pray and talk about why they should be grateful. After church, Lowe and her family gather around their TV and watch “A Christmas Story.” The next morning, Lowe’s mom cooks a meal for them and the whole family watches football.

“We have turkey, we have stuffing, and we have fruit salads. It’s [like] Thanksgiving again,” she said.