HOLIDAY SPECIAL
These Movies Should be on Everyone's List for the Holidays
By Simon Johnson (Staff writer)
Are you ready to celebrate Christmas by watching movies? Here are some Christmas movie recommendations. If you want to laugh then you should watch one of these:
Elf by John Favreau
Home Alone by Chris Columbus
The Grinch by Scott Yarrow
A Christmas Story by Bob Clark
If you want a classic, watch:
Charlie Brown Christmas by Bill Melendez
The Polar Express by Robert Zemeckis
Nightmare Before Christmas by Henry Selick
Here are some other movies that could interest you:
Christmas Chronicles by Clay Kaytis
Christmas Vacation by Jeremiah Chechik
Frosty the Snowman by Jules Bass and Arthur Rankin, Jr.
How the Grinch Stole Christmas by Ron Howard
Photo Credit- Emily Song
Movies for To Put You in the Holiday Spirit
By Issabella Monroe (Staff writer)
Have you ever spent a long time looking for a movie to watch? If you have, here are some Christmas movies to watch. Some movies like Elf, Home Alone, The Nightmare Before Christmas, A Christmas Story, and The Grinch are popular holiday movies.
Elf, made in 2003 stars actors like Will Ferrell, James Caan, Bob Newhart, and Zooey Deschanel. This movie is about a toddler, known a Buddy, being transported to the north pole and raised by Santa’s elves. He finds out that is not his real home and goes on a search for his real dad (Walter Hobbs) in New York City. Buddy comes along a lot of twists and turns and things don’t go so well, but in the end, he finds his family and happiness.
Home Alone, made in 1990 is a classic and is loved by many people. Actors such as Macaulay Culkin, Joe Pesci, Daniel Stern, John Heard, and Catherine O'Hara are in this movie. Home Alone starts with an 8-year old boy, Kevin, that misbehaves the night before a family vacation to Paris. He is accidentally left home the next morning. Throughout the movie Kevin finds himself trying to protect his house from burglars with a series of clever inventions.
The Nightmare Before Christmas might seem like a Halloween movie, but it can be watched on either holiday. Also, known as Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas was made in 1993. What is it about? Jack Skellington, the pumpkin king of Halloween Town stumbles into Christmas town and becomes infatuated with the idea of Christmas that he decides to try and create his own version. This movie stars Danny Elfman, Chris Sarandon, Catherine O'Hara, and William Hickey as the character’s voices.
A Christmas story is a great movie to watch with your family. This movie was made in 1983 and is about a young boy named Ralphie who attempts to convince his parents, his teacher, and Santa that a Red Ryder BB gun really is the perfect Christmas gift while spending his time dodging a bully. This heartwarming comedy is loved by many kids. A Christmas story includes actors like Melinda Dillon, Darren McGavin, and Peter Billingsley.
Last but not least there is How the Grinch stole Christmas. This is a classic but there are also many remakes you can watch. How the Grinch stole Christmas was made in 2000 and stars Jim Carrey, Molly Shannon, Anthony Hopkins, and many more. A heartless, bitter Grinch becomes irritated at the thought of Christmas celebrated by the nearby town, planning to ruin their Christmas he disguises himself as Santa Claus and steals everyone's presents and Christmas decorations. Throughout the movie the Grinch finds himself feeling bad about taking everyone Christmas because he never had one. In the end, he returns Christmas and celebrates it with the nearby town, finding his love and happiness.
All of these movies have wonderful plots and messages. Whatever movie you decide to watch, you will enjoy.
Photo Credit- Emily Song
Holiday Family Tradition
By Ella Ettlinger (Staff writer)
My family tradition might be different from others because of religion but as a Jew one of the best traditions is make challah ever since I was little my mom and I made any pastries together on holidays, like on Hanukkah we have sufganiyot or on Shabbat we make pies or cakes. I cherish these moments with my mom because as I get older I do this with my mom less and less, but I have started to again and it makes me so happy.
Holiday Gifts for Kids
By Chloe Gonzalez (Staff writer)
Tickets to shows
Shows give you a chance to experience shows that you enjoy in real life. It is also a great chance to get your kid out of the house and away from technology. Also, at shows, you are going to be surrounded with many talented actors who know what they're doing and can guarantee you a great experience.
LEGO’S
LEGOs let you be creative and build anything you want, using your imagination. They also have LEGOs for shows that you may enjoy watching that you could build. They are a good time waster that you can actually enjoy.
Gift Card
Gift cards are great to get young children to show them how credit cards work in real life. With a card, they can buy whatever they’d like instead of begging their parents. They also make it so that you don't have to worry about what they want for Christmas and just buy what you want later on.
Books
Books are great from getting your kids away from television and to make them use their imagination. They can think about how they think the setting looks without anybody else’s interpretation. You may read a book you thought you’d never like but end up enjoying it.
Sport materials
Sports materials get your kid outside and ready to get their heart pumping! They get great exercise and fun out of playing sports. You can play with friends and family while using teamwork (for some sports) or practice getting better on your own.
Photo Credit-Emily Song
All About Christmas
By Emma Song (Staff Writer)
Christmas, also referred to as X-Mas, is the celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ on December 25 in Christianity. Starting from this day until December 31st, each day is the last day of the year.
The word X-mas is short for the first letter X (pronounced key or hie) of ΧΡΙΣΤΟΣ (Christos), which means Christ in Greek. In English-speaking countries, this is often read as Xmas, but it is originally correct to read as Christmas. Of course, both Christmas and Xmas are allowed because X-mas is a term close to slang.
Jews who believe in Judaism do not recognize Jesus as a special person (Messiah or God), so they do not spend Christmas separately, but because there is Hanukkah, a Jewish holiday during Christmas, people sometimes misunderstand Hanuka as "Jewish Christmas," but Hanukkah has nothing to do with Christmas. They often celebrate together because the dates are similar.
In the United States, secular politicians often dilute the meaning a little, instead of "Merry Christmas," in consideration of Jews and other religious people, they say ‘Happy Holidays,’ and as Barack Obama became popular throughout the United States, Merry Christmas has not been spoken well among people since the 2010s. Furthermore, in the UK, there was a perfect religious neutral campaign that called the Christmas holiday "Winter Festival Season" and did not even use the word ‘holiday’ with religious meaning.
As can be seen from the above two anecdotes, Christmas has faded a lot of religious meaning in modern and contemporary times, so it feels more like a holiday period when a big event is held at the end of the year. Many people enjoy Christmas culture regardless of Christian faith, and Christmas in Christianity is a different atmosphere from secular Christmas.
The Story of Christmas
By Cooper Esparza (Staff writer)
Christmas is a very special holiday to many people across Earth, it’s about giving. Christmas is 1,686 years old, which dates back to 336 AD, a very old Christmas rumor is that when Christmas was first started by a little kid who gave gold to poor families every year on the 25th. Then it became an actual holiday. It is believed that the little boy became Santa. Christmas is a holiday loved by kids all over the world, Santa Claus visits every kid on Earth in just 8-12 hours! I hope everyone has a Happy Holidays!
Photo Credit - Emily Song
Celebrating Christmas around the World
Daniel Kangavari
In China only about 1 percent of the population is Christian and mostly only the big cities put up Christmas tree lights. Santa Claus is called 'Shengdan Laoren' (old Christmas Man.) In Chinese, Merry Christmas is 'Sheng Dan Kuai Le. Very few people have Christmas trees, and when they do they are normally artificial. Christmas trees are often seen in malls. Some people go caroling but not many people know what it is, but jingle bells is a popular song in China.
In the days of the Soviet Union in Russia, Christmas was not celebrated very much. After the Revolution Christmas was banned due to it being a religious holiday. After the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, the people were free to celebrate Christmas but is still a small holiday compared to the New Year. New years is a big holiday for Russia because they spend lots of time partying, eating, and drinking. New Year is also when Ded Moroz (grandfather frost) brings presents to kids and puts them under the new-year tree witch is similar to a Christmas tree. Christmas in Russia is normally celebrated on January 7th.
Secret Santa Gifts
By Liam Lopez (Staff writer)
If you want to give people good Christmas gifts, this a good place to look for some.
Gift Cards
Gift cards are great Christmas gifts because they allow you to buy anything you want from your favorite store. They are very good also because they give you the satisfaction of any purchase you desire. They also reduce the stress of finding a perfect gift for the person. With gift cards, they help save money instead of wasting a ton for a certain gift. Another reason why gift cards are popular is that they are easy to give, and you can make them attractive to look like a perfect gift.
iPhones
iPhones are amazing gifts because they allow you to use so many apps and it is very fun for ages 12 and higher. Iphones has also of access to fun games and being able to do things that you want.
Board games
Board games are fun gifts to give to people for Christmas. This gift allows you to have fun with anyone and play games anytime. It is a great way to spend time with family and friends. It also decreases the amount of time you spend isolated in your room, on your phone.
LED Lights
LED Lights are super cool gifts to get teenagers from ages 10-15. It can light up your room with cool colors. LED Lights are good decorations for your room and can make your room feel very comfortable.
Money
Money is a great gift to give to people of any age. Also, money can get you anything you want from anywhere. Money also never expires and can be used anytime. There are also so many fun things that you can buy for cheap.
Why Hanukkah Is Celebrated
by Adam Geller (Staff writer)
Many years ago the Greeks ruled over the Jewish people and destroyed there the second temple and didn’t let them practice their religion so the Jewish people banded together and defeated the Greeks. After the war, their city was in ruins and they needed to light candles to worship God but they could only find a small amount of oil and it lasted eight days and it was a miracle from God.
Today the Jewish people celebrate Hanukkah by lighting candles for eight days and giving presents along with singing songs. Hanukkah is also about spending time with family and friends. It is also called the festival because historically people used to light candles with oil that lasted eight days.
Hanukkah, the Festival of Light
By Emma Song (Staff Writer)
Hanukkah is a Jewish festival held for eight days from the 25th day of Kislev of the Hebrews. In general, it takes place between the end of November and December based on the Julian calendar. The word Hanukkah means dedication in Hebrew.
Because the date is similar to Christmas, people often enjoy it together. In recognition of religious diversity, the United States celebrates Happy Holidays by combining Hanuka + Christmas + New Year's Day. In the case of Judaism in the United States, they celebrate by singing a song called "Dreidel Song" together in response to Christian carols.
People who celebrate Hanukkah light the Menorah. On the first day of Hanukkah, they light the candle located at the highest point, and then light the candle on the right edge. On the second day, the candle located on the left side of the first candle is lit, and in this way, the candle is ignited inward one by one a day. It lasts for eight days, so there are a total of eight candles. The candles lit during Hanukkah are lit for at least thirty minutes after dark.
My Favorite Holiday Dinner
By Mia Sagie (Staff writer)
Hey, what’s your favorite holiday dinner? Well, if you wanna know whats my favorite holiday dinner is, well it’s my mom’s amazing Hanukkah dinner. It feels so amazing, coming home on a Hanukkah night to an amazing dinner after a long day.
The food tastes so good and it is really enjoyable to have. My mom’s Hanukkah dinner normally includes Mashed potatoes, Chicken, Soup, Rice, and pasta. You may be thinking, that sounds like a normal dinner for some of you guys. I agree, but the effort my mom put into making the food just makes it so much better.
After that, we all light the menorah and eat our desserts. We normally have cake, cookies, or jelly donuts for dessert after saying the prayers and lighting the menorah. Now that you think about it, wouldn’t you want my mom’s amazing Hanukkah dinner?
