The smell of hot cookies baking in the oven, the sight of white snow lightly falling outside; these are some of the scenes that put people into the holiday spirit. Whether it is decorating the house, spending time with family, or donating to charity, students and families at ACHS celebrate the holiday season in many different ways.

Many students at ACHS look forward to their classic traditions around the holidays, such as setting up decorations in and outside of their houses.

“We go all out with Christmas lights all over the house,” said junior Carter Tritschler. “Inside the house, [we put] a Christmas tree in the living room, the classic nutcrackers on the shelf.”

Other students at ACHS view the holiday season as a time to see and spend time with their close friends and family members. Some have their entire family at their house, others go somewhere else.

Senior Jennifer Cerer said, “Families get together, and you get to see people you don’t normally get to see, like my cousins, uncles, aunts, everybody. That’s probably the best part.”

“We usually hang out with the entire family at a specified house on Christmas Eve. It changes every year because we have so many family members,” said Tritschler. “[On Christmas day] I just hang out with my family. We all open up gifts in the morning and then we hang out the rest of the day.”

Junior Jonathon Green’s family owns a farm in Antioch, Ill. They get into the holiday spirit in an uncommon, yet exciting way.

“We hook up our horses and do sleigh rides around my farm and the neighborhood,” said Green. “It’s a fun time for all of us to get together.”

This unusual tradition started when Green’s family and friends decided to build a sleigh. The sleigh rides go on throughout the winter season. But sleigh rides are not the only unusual thing the Green family does around the holidays.

Green said, “I go drag racing around Christmas with my family down in Florida.”

Additionally, students at ACHS celebrate many different holidays.

“I celebrate Hanukah, which is a Jewish holiday,” said junior Lauren Novick. “We celebrate when the time comes  by lighting the menorah. We have one dinner on the first night of Hanukah.”

The holiday season is a time that many look forward to. For students, it’s a welcome and needed break from school to spend time with friends and family.