By Marcella Koza

Of course, families around the world have their own holiday traditions, but at Central, it’s striking how similar those traditions are to one another.

A lot of students blend family time with holiday traditions. Those who celebrate Christmas said they make gingerbread houses with their siblings, or put up their Christmas tree with their whole family, while others go to church together on Christmas morning. Another popular family tradition is baking cookies the night before Christmas. “Every year my brothers and I bake gingerbread cookies and watch The Polar Express together,” senior Marcel Kassab said.

Those celebrating Hanukkah enjoy traditions like lighting the menorah or playing the dreidel game as a family. “My family is really traditional when it comes to Hanukkah. We light the menorah for each of the eight days and my parents give my brother and I a gift for each day,” junior Sandra Belilovsky said.

Of course, holiday traditions do vary some degree based on culture. A tradition that may be different for people of different cultures may be their food. Sophomore Faith Dawood said, “My family is Chaldean so our traditional food that we eat on Christmas aren’t the type of food a lot of people are familiar with like one of the most famous food is called Dolma which is stuffed grape leaves.”