Lancers have lots of Christmas traditions and vacation plans.
Alexia Turnquest (12) is flying back to the Bahamas to visit her mom and family. “I recently moved here because my dad lives here and also for graduation because I already have all my credits that are needed,” Alexia said. She will be flying home alone for the holiday.
While there, Alexia says they have many fun things planned. “We plan to go jet skiing and visit the other islands like Eleuthera and Abaco as well,” she said. She’s excited to spend quality time with her family and celebrate Christmas, but she’s not excited about having to come back.
Kiera Lund (12) is another Lancer with big plans and fun traditions for Christmas vacation. Lund and her family celebrate Little Christmas Eve on December 23, a Scandinavian tradition. “On Little Christmas Eve, we hang out and make paper woven baskets,” Lund said. “Once we all finish, we put oranges in them and hang them on the tree.”
Once all that is done, they then have a big home cooked meal like a roast, to end off Little Christmas Eve. Then on Christmas Eve, the family orders cheese pizza as an homage to their favorite Christmas movie Home Alone. “After we get the pizza, we watch Home Alone and other Christmas movies as a family,” Kiera said. They also read Christmas books together as well.
On top of all that, they also exchange gifts. “Every year we exchange gifts, sometimes we even home make the gifts. We’ve done pillowcases, ornaments, and this year we’re doing sweaters,” said Lund.
Although there is a strict rule in her house for Christmas. On Christmas, they can open their stockings before eating. But under no circumstances can they open presents before eating. “We sometimes go to our Grandparents for Christmas morning, but the rule still stands. No presents before breakfast,” said Lund. Kiera said that she was most excited for her family’s sweater exchange and just being able to spend time with her family.
There are even nice calmer vacations like what Lyric Madry (11) and her family are doing. Madry’s birthday is three days after Christmas. So, they’re going to spend a nice Christmas together and have a family dinner at her grandma’s house. Then they’re going to celebrate her birthday after.
“I’m going to get a tattoo for my birthday, it’s going to have Polynesian, Black, and Mexican all combined to represent me,” said Madry. “We might even go to Park City to celebrate my birthday as well,” continued Madry.
Another Lancer that has fun things planned for Christmas vacation is Jasmin Rincon (11) who has fun plans with her family. Jasmin and her family have the tradition of every Christmas they set up the Manger Scene with Baby Jesus and the Three Kings. “We also go to church on Christmas and there are people who say, ‘Get Out,’ ” said Rincon. “After they say that we go to all the exits and ask to be let in,” Rincon said.
This represents Mary and her Husband going house to house asking to be let in. “After church we then go home and have Tamales and other similar things like that,” Rincon said. A week after Christmas, Rincon and her family have Rosca de Reyes, which is a tradition that marks the day when, according to the Christian faith, the three wise men following the star to Bethlehem arrived with gifts for baby Jesus. It’s a cake that has a baby in it and whoever finds the baby in their piece is supposed to make tamales.
