Month: December 2022

One of my favorite things during the Christmas holiday is getting together and playing games and eating. It is always good to get with the family, eat,  and catch up with one another. We always play games that everyone can participate in. One game that we play so everyone can play is heads up, another one, the speak out game. I like the Speak Out game the most because it is so funny seeing everyone getting rowdy up and trying to guess what they are saying with the mouthpiece in. This is why this is my favorite tradition because we are all together at one time and able to catch up with one another and have fun at the same time. 

–Staff Writer, Rock Cummings

New family Christmas traditions are one of the biggest things when it comes to starting a family. I have thought long and hard about what I would like to do with my family and the answer is clear. I would take my family camping in a national park. We would spend a week or two, just us and nature–a  small vacation disconnected from the outside world. Just us, some food, and a couple of tents, just hoping we don’t freeze to death, growing together as a family since we’d be the only ones we could talk to. Now, of course, we would spend the holidays after camping with my parents and family. For the first part of the holidays I would want to camp though and teach my kids the joys of nature and how we should be appreciative of what the earth has given us. Being isolated would help my family grow closer and be more thankful for each other, just another way to help the kids become humbled for who and what they have instead of obsessing over what clothes or toys the other kids have at school. After all this I would go broke spoiling them with various gifts I had bought them.

–Staff Writer, Max Ray

My Christmas Traditions

Every family has their own traditions, like going to a cousin’s house and celebrating Christmas together, staying home and watching Christmas movies all day, or going out and volunteering. Whatever the case may be, each family has their own traditions for Christmas. My family, we have a few traditions that we do during the holiday season. The traditions we do during Christmas Eve are my favorite. 

 After I come home from my dad’s house on Christmas Eve, my aunt, my brother, and I will bake cookies. Then my family will gather together to eat and my aunt Kathy will hide the Christmas pickle, and whoever finds the pickle first gets to open a family gift that’s usually filled with pajamas for everyone and snacks. We then (if weather permits) start a fire and watch National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation. After the movie my brother and I go have a sleepover in our aunt Kathy’s bedroom. Usually either my brother or I get up at like three or four in the morning and sneak a look at the gifts Santa brought then head back to sleep. Until we get up again at like five or six to open presents with our family. It is so much fun and I cannot wait until Christmas Eve! 

-Staff writer, Leigh Strickland

Christmas Tradition 

When people ask what my favorite Christmas tradition is, it is hard to choose! This time of year is my favorite because we gather with all of my family and it is just a joyful time. My favorite tradition would have to be the big breakfast we make on Christmas morning before we open presents. As my sister and I got older I was worried that Christmas just would not be the same anymore, but that is in fact not true. My parents wake up early in the morning to cook a big breakfast with all of our favorites. As soon as we are done eating we head to the living room to start opening up all the presents. After a while, my grandparents come over to eat and look at all of our stuff. I know that no matter how old we get, Christmas morning will always be my favorite morning of the year. Everyone is joyful and our family gets together even in the midst of all of our busy schedules. I hope to carry on the tradition of a big Christmas morning breakfast with my family one day. 

Staff Writer: Carley Sullivan 

Christmas Eve at Grandma’s

  Every year on Christmas Eve my entire family would go to my Grandmother’s house and eat dinner there. It was a time for our family to gather and spend time together. All of the troubles that had been going on throughout the year seemed to melt away as the family gathered around and spent the night laughing and talking with one another. Most of the older kids which consisted of me, my brother and my two cousins were the real trouble makers, we were always running around and getting into something. We would spend most of our time, even if it was freezing, outside in the tree line, even though we were most definitely not supposed to be, laughing, joking and just being kids. THis time with family is something I cherish and still look forward to today. 

After everyone had eaten and spent most of the day and night with the family we would all gather around my Grandmother’s giant Christmas tree and we would open the two gifts she had gotten us. We would always receive some type of toy or happy as she would call it, then a suit of either night clothes to wear at home or nice dress clothes. As kids we would immediately jump to open our toys and being my Grandmother she had always had a stash of batteries for whatever our toys needed. We would then spend the rest of the night laughing with our family and just hanging around until it was time to leave. After changing into pajamas we would head home. As kids we would always search the sky in hopes of catching a glimpse of “Santa Clause” but it would always end with my dad carrying each of us into the house tucking us in saying, “You better get some sleep or Santa won’t come.”

–Staff Writer, Ava Vanlandingham

One thing that I hold special to me is the time I would spend with my grandmother cooking. One thing that we would do around the holidays is that she would come to the house and spend every second in the kitchen making her homemade Chicken and Dumplings. We would spend hours sitting in the kitchen laughing while we cooked and told each other anything and everything that was our lives. From an early age my grandmother had had me in the kitchen with her. Ever since she passed, making this with my other grandmother whenever possible has become a big thing for us. My grandmother’s recipes have become a big staple especially around Thanksgiving because it’s our way of keeping her memory alive. My grandmother was my best friend and someone I enjoyed spending time with. We would cook this recipe together around this time and sit around with family laughing and joking together. 

Spoon Drop Chicken and Dumplings Recipe

Ingredients needed 

• Chicken (2-4 boned breasts) 
• Salted or unsalted butter
• All purpose flour
• MIlk or water
• Chicken broth (If needed) 
• Seasoning of your choice (salt and pepper recommended) 

Steps 

Start by adding your chicken to a large pot of water, butter, and the seasoning you have chosen and bring to a boil until chicken is cooked through. Once chicken is fully cooked, bring from the pot but do not drain the broth in the pot and save for later. Once chicken is cooled pull from the bone and add back into the broth but set aside for the moment. In a mixing bowl add equal parts of all purpose flour and water/milk (whichever you wanna use) stir until you have a dough like consistency adding milk or flour as needed. Bring your chicken to a boil in the broth from when you cooked the chicken, you may need to add broth if necessary, slowly by spoon add in your dumplings careful not to let your pot over run. Add the dumpling dough until you have the desired amount and let come to a boil until fully cooked through. Once finished, remove from the stove and serve. Add extra seasonings as desired.