By: Cassandra Holmwood
Winter break is quickly approaching. In four short weeks, we will be waking up in our cozy beds, back home with our dogs, cats, brothers, sisters and parents nearby. Each day leading up to the holidays will be filled with excitement and joy. Not only will you be in the comfort of your own home, but you will finally be able to see the friends you haven’t seen since August. As someone who loves the holidays, I am going to list all activities that I do each year to get ready and celebrate the happiest time of the year.
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Every year I invite my friends from home over to my house to have a “Cookie Party.” This is one of our favorite traditions as a group where we all bake our favorite Christmas cookie and then exchange them. Since I personally love to bake gingerbread men, I always set aside some icing so everyone can decorate their own cookies. Once we exchange our cookies, we all have around 25 different kinds of flavors. As we snack on our freshly baked cookies, we watch a Christmas movies and catch up on each others’ lives.
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Ice skating is not the easiest thing for me to do, but I do love to do it. My friends and I try to spend as much time together as we can when we are not with our families, and this has been an activity that we have learned to love more with each year. There is a skating rink where we all meet in our city center. We come dressed bundled in our winter coats, mittens and hats, ready to fall on the ice and laugh all night. After skating, we like to go to a Tim Hortons and each buy a hot chocolate.
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Secret Santa is a tradition that most friends do, but it has always been one of my favorites. I am the one friend in the group that loves to ruin the surprise by investigating who has who for Secret Santa. Shopping for my friends is one of my favorite things to do over the holidays because I love to find them the perfect gift.
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Family parties are always entertaining during the holiday season. Once I get through the dreaded “How was your first semester?” college talk, it’s more enjoyable. Family parties are fun because not only do you get to see your family members, but you get to have the amazing appetizers that your aunt makes once a year…
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One of my favorite things to do during the holiday season is to go to the movies with my mom. For the past few years, my mom and I plan a full day together starting off with a Pure Barre workout class, followed by brunch at our favorite Greek restaurant. Once we finish eating, we head down our main road to Regal Cinemas to watch a new movie (December always has new movies coming out, so this is the perfect time).
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In Western New York, snow is plentiful. Due to the amount of snow we can get in a short period of time, skiing is very fun. If you are not a big skier, snowshoeing or cross country skiing can be just as fun. The temperature can get very low, but to warm up my dad sets up a fire in the fireplace and I drink a warm cup of coffee after my long day out in the snow. If I am not in the mood to put on all of my skiing gear, I love to walk my dog Teddy outside.