Christmas is the most wonderful time of the year in my eyes. My favorite christmas memory would have to be Christmas dinner. When I was around nine years old, my whole family was sitting around the table getting ready to dig into our christmas dinner. Everyone knows that my mom is a terrible cook so my brother and I devised a plan to stop the dinner. Shawn picked up his fork and flicked food across the table at me, this turned into a huge food fight. Needless to say no-one had to suffer through my mom’s terrible cooking. It is a memory I will always cherish, I am sure I will tell my own children about this story one day.

My favorite memory of Christmas is the time my uncles, cousins and I all wrestled in my grandma's living room and knocked the Christmas tree over. Grandma was laughing and smiling, and then boom. The Christmas tree fell over, and everyone stopped and looked at her. For a minute, she had a disappointed face on, but after that, she laughed and smiled. That day, something kind of happened. This is what it is all about: laughing, smiling, even knocking over a tree. As long as you’re happy and with the people you call family, with not just fake laughs but belly aching ones, you can have Christmas everyday.

If I could grant one wish to the world during this holiday season, it would be for every family to have a wonderful Christmas. Ever since this pandemic has entered the world everything has been different. Families have come distant, and some families haven't seen each other in 2 years. But I wish for every family to come together this holiday and reunite. We need to make as much time for one another this year. Make more memories and enjoy time together. Let's make Christmas 2021 a good one! Have fun and get lots of presents! Because we never know what will happen in the future.

A few years ago, my dad decided that rather than buying us material objects that only give temporary joy, he would rather give us memories for a lifetime, so every Christmas, we take trips around the US. Last Christmas, we went to Disney World, and this Christmas, we are going to New York City to watch a Broadway play. I wouldn’t trade the time spent with my family for any material object in this world.

Five years ago, my granddaddy was diagnosed with a type of cancer called Leukemia. Four years ago, he passed away from it. I shared so many great memories with my granddaddy, but my favorite memory with him was whenever we listened to UK play over the radio. Every time UK did something wrong he would scream and shout at the radio, watching him get worked up over a basketball game always gave me a good laugh. This year for Christmas, I want to do something special for my grandaddy. I’ve been saving my allowances for a while now and I have enough to take my family to a UK basketball game. I was saving up to take him but by the time I had enough money to take him he was too tired and couldn’t do the things he used to enjoy, he was such a devoted fan and he deserved to see them play live. I am hoping he will get to watch the game from heaven. Every year is a bittersweet Christmas without him but I know he’s smiling down on me from heaven.

Christmas has a little bit of a different meaning for me than others. It’s a very happy, cheerful, and amazing time to spend with your family and friends, but for me it’s also a little sad. I lost my parents when I was younger, every year is a little harder than before. Every year as I get older all I can seem to think about is how I don’t get to spend time with them, but it’s a beautiful holiday to celebrate. Every Christmas I see cardinals flying around and playing with each other. Cardinals represent loved ones watching over you, so when I see them I have hope they are still with me to celebrate the beautiful holiday.

One of my favorite Christmas memories is my family having all the kids chase after Santa on Christmas night to try and catch him. We never actually see him but we hear him say “Ho! Ho! Ho!” and we start the chase. Once we get up the stairs we can smell the cookies and see the snow prints tracked through the house. We run all the way to the door and all we ever see is his boots prints through the snow.

I am a foreign exchange student from Taiwan, and we do not really celebrate Christmas. This year I am going to experience Christmas with my host family. I am so excited to see how Americans celebrate Christmas. I am sure it will be an unforgettable experience, complete with life-long memories.

If I could grant one wish, I would grant one for my mom. She is from the Philippines, and hasn’t spent Christmas with her family since she moved here. Her mom passed away several years ago, and her dad is sickly. I want her to be able to go home and celebrate Christmas with her family, even if it means she’ll miss Christmas with us this year. I know that it’s impossible. However, if I could, I would wish for her to go back in time, back to when her mom was still alive, and spend Christmas with her parents one more time.

The message that I have for the medical caretakers who are working through the holidays, is thank you! You are appreciated more than you know. The people who you are spending your holidays with will remember you always. I have always had a lot of respect for health care workers, but ever since my Nana was in the hospital with Covid, I have had a lot more appreciation and respect. We were so thankful for them throughout the time that she spent in the hospital. Each health care worker went above and beyond to make sure that she was okay. When she was in ICU she did not have access to a phone; however, the nurses arranged for her to Facetime us. We appreciated it so much. My family will never forget the kindness and assurance that we were shown from these medical professionals. Thank you for all you do! You are making a huge difference in someone's life and are appreciated more than you know! I hope you have a wonderful holiday season, you deserve it.

If I could grant one wish for the world, it would be to cure cancer. Unfortunately for many people in my family, they have had to fight this terrible disease. I know that cancer has affected multiple families and not just mine, and that's why my wish would be to find a cure. I have seen my mom go through the worst of the worst, but she keeps fighting. I am a 16 year old student at Betsy Layne, and i take care of my sick mother when I’m not at school. Being a caretaker is difficult, but I’m always going to be right behind her pushing her to get better. I love you, mom. I hope you have the best Christmas.

One of my favorite Christmas memories is the time I got my yellow bike. I had seen it when we were out Christmas shopping in October of that year. It had a beautiful basket and an old time look to it and since then I asked my mom about it everyday. I know I aggravated her but I couldn't help it. I wanted it so bad. On Christmas morning I came through the house and saw my pile of gifts and in the pile laid a new curling iron, lots of clothes, movies, and almost anything else you could think of but no yellow bike. I felt sad that I didn't get it but I didn't want to make mom feel bad. Mom asked me to go in the kitchen to get her a coke and there at the front of the fridge stood my yellow bike.