Many people have their own Christmas traditions, including when they start celebrating.

Christmas Day (Dec. 25) is one of the most widely celebrated holidays, and students kick start the festive season with many traditions. Some people may begin celebrating as early as after Halloween, while others wait until mid-December.

Christmas traditions range from buying gifts, decorating trees, putting up lights, making cookies, caroling, drinking hot chocolate, and throwing parties for family and friends. While many students agree that these traditions are both necessary and enjoyable, there is discrepancy over the appropriate time to “deck the halls.”

Thanksgiving is often considered the “official” start of the holiday season, as friends and family gather to share holiday dishes and the irresistible deals of Black Friday and Cyber Monday tempt everyone to think about what they are going to put under the tree.

Emily O’Brien ’21 spoke about her family’s Chinese traditions and how and when they use them to prepare for the holidays.

“We start celebrating in December because my family cleans the house and stuff,” she recalled. “In Chinese tradition, we clean the house, we give respect to dead relatives, and also the red envelopes are given to some children.”

In Chinese tradition, red envelopes are given out during holidays and family events to symbolize good luck and contain coins or other small tokens.

Emily also shared a story about seeing what she believed were premature celebrators on her way to school. “It was November 12 and I was walking to school and someone had a seven-foot Christmas tree strapped to the roof of their car. So that’s pretty early,” she said smiling.

Senior Lila Schaefer begins celebrating Christmas at the beginning of December with her tradition of her mom bringing home a chocolate advent calendar at the start of the month.

Jason Albanese ’20 and his family, however, do not typically begin celebrating Christmas until after break has started. “If celebrating just means putting up the tree, then probably a few days before Christmas. We don’t really sing songs or binge-watch holiday specials, it’s really just time to unwind,” he stated.

Jason further expressed that he begins to see signs of Christmas as early as the summer. “I mean honestly, I’ve seen Christmas stuff in Walmart in the summer. It’s like the Summer Solstice and they have Santa plushies,” he said.

Hannah Roche ’23 also does not begin celebrating until just a few days before Christmas, but typically sees signs of Christmas preparation around Halloween.

Even though they do not get their tree until just before Christmas, junior Liam Coughlin’s family continues their celebration past Christmas Day. “We typically are really late and don’t get our tree until about a week before, but we kind of make up for it be keeping it up until New Year’s,” he said.