Christmas is one of the biggest holidays celebrated in the United States every year. Every family that does celebrate tend to have their own traditions and activities for this wondrous snowy holiday.

One such tradition is “the Pickle,” which is were a pickle ornament is hidden within the Christmas tree and the first child to find the pickle in the tree gets a special gift as a reward. This Pickle tradition is followed by a couple of students, such as Darien Arthur, Brian Royea, and Sierra Smallwood, all of which are seniors.

“The one downside to this tradition is my parents have labeled me ‘too old’ to participate, so now it is only my younger sisters who do it,” said Darien regarding The Pickle tradition.

A famed tradition in my own home is watching a classic Christmas movie the night before, such as The Nightmare Before Christmas or any of the Home Alone movies. Smallwood says, “It is a fun little thing we do, I get a chance to sit and bond with my family, especially with my brother who does not live with us,” which is why this tradition is important to her. 

Another lovely sounding tradition is from Mrs. Condon, “We had a tradition of my dad reading the Christmas story from the Bible on Christmas Eve before bedtime and now I even do a video chat with him so he can read it for me and my family!”  Not only do they do an annual storytelling but Mrs. Condon’s family has the tradition of “The Christmas Mouse,” in which she explained,  “Every day before Christmas, we move “Christmas Mouse” on our advent calendar another day closer to Christmas, and we also read one story out of our Christmas Countdown book,” which is absolutely adorable tradition.

At JMHS, students place a Christmas tree at the front of the building and decorate the tree.  The tree is lit each day leading up to Christmas break.

Whatever tradition your family participates in, the staff at The Jackson-Milton Journal would like to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!