Teddie Turner has been waiting for the holiday season to come around since last year. She cannot wait to put up her tree and make Christmas cookies with her family. Ever since she was little, she remembers doing all of these special traditions with her family.

People who celebrate Christmas tend to start celebrating right after Halloween and continue until News Year’s Day. People who celebrate Hanukkah will celebrate from Dec. 24 until Jan.1 this year.  For people who don’t celebrate any holiday, December is used to celebrate winter.

Christmas is definitely one of the most popular holidays in America. Many people who celebrate Christmas feel comfortable telling people because it is common for someone to celebrate it.

“I feel very comfortable telling people that I celebrate Christmas,” freshman Teddie Tuner said. “I grew up celebrating Christmas and it’s what most of my friends celebrate.”

Since Christmas is such a popular holiday in America, people sometimes take it for granted that there are many who celebrate other holidays, or who don’t celebrate a holiday at all during this season. Because of this, some of the people who do celebrate other holidays often feel uncomfortable telling people.

“I’m not super comfortable with telling people,” freshman Melanie Gibson said. “If someone asks me if I celebrate Hanukkah I answer honestly, but I’m not too open about it.”

Another uncommon thing is when people don’t celebrate a holiday at all. Instead of spending the winter months doing holiday traditions, they do winter traditions instead.

“I don’t have any holiday traditions,” said freshman Anu Yetukuri. “During winter break I like to spend time with my family.”

Because of the overwhelming number of people who celebrate Christmas in America, other holidays are sometimes overshadowed.

“I rarely hear Hanukkah being talked about,”  Melanie Gibson said, “There doesn’t seem to be many Jewish people at RHS, which explains why it isn’t discussed much, but it would be nice if people acknowledged it more.”

When asked, students who don’t celebrate Christmas wish their holiday was more talked about.

“I wish more people knew I don’t celebrate a holiday,” said Anu Yetukuri.

To change this, some feel a greater emphasis should be put on the fact that not everyone celebrates Christmas.

“By placing more emphasis on other holidays/ traditions and winter themed traditions instead of just Christmas, no holiday will be overshadowed, ” freshman science teacher Mrs. Jaclyn Smith said.

The winter season is a time for celebrating, and Turner says more attention should be placed on all the holidays celebrated during the season. 

“Celebrating holidays at school is fun and I like celebrating them, but it’s hard,” Turner said. “We need to place more emphasis on other holidays as well.”