Vox pop.

Hanukkah: Lauren Tapper, senior

“My favorite memory of celebrating Hanukkah is definitely seeing my family, it’s really special, lighting the menorah together, and I’m looking forward to eating latkes this Hanukkah.”

Christmas: Max Gurinas, sophomore

“We used to decorate the Christmas tree together as a family every year. We would go to the store and pick out this Christmas tree. We’d all just hang out, picking out the Christmas tree and just decorating it, and that was really fun. We are going to be traveling for the first time this Christmas, so that is going to be interesting but different.”

Kwanzaa: Olivia Adams, sophomore

“When I was younger, my mom and I would get invited to, like, her friend’s family Kwanzaa celebration. And I think that was kind of my favorite memory because I got to hang out with a lot of family friends and it was just, like, a really nice community and we just had a really nice celebration. I’m looking forward to celebrating it this year because it’s something that my mom likes to celebrate, and it’s kind of become a part of what I celebrate, too.”

New Year’s: Valeria Godina, junior
“One memory I have from New Year’s was trying to frantically find a channel or any online website that would provide the countdown in Chicago time while also being in the Spanish language. We saw
that it was about time for it to be the new year and we were in a rush to get the countdown going because this was our first year doing the traditional eating the 12 grapes to bring luck. Once we found a countdown, there were only a few seconds left and we unfortunately were unable to finish our grapes before the countdown hit zero. However, I remember how funny it was to see the entire family be in a frenzy to get a televised countdown going.”