Christmas is a famously festive holiday with unique traditions across the world, and many of these practices stay relatively constant throughout the general public. Among the most looked forward to traditions is decorating. Christmas decorations come in many colors, shapes, and sizes, and with the holiday season upon us, the time for decorating has come! A whopping 98% of SHC students celebrate Christmas to some degree, and a poll was sent out to understand their opinions on Christmas decorations, starting with asking the student body whether they decorate their houses for the winter holidays.
According to the poll, 94% of SHC students decorate their house for Christmas, interior, exterior, or both. Though almost all students decorate their houses, the reasoning behind this is different for each person. Junior Claire Bessette decorates “because it’s fun and it lifts my spirits,” while junior Lizzie Ogden’s family decorates “to make my dad mad.” Regardless of their reasoning, most students that decorate said something similar to senior Sam Wai: that “setting aside a day for Christmas decorating has become an important tradition in my family.”
Though 94% of families decorate their houses for the holiday, 6% of those polled don’t, and this boils down to multiple reasons. Many families, such as that of sophomore Melina Meniktas, simply “don’t have time” to put up elaborate decorations. Freshman Elea Lewy doesn’t decorate “because we don’t spend Christmas in San Francisco, so for us there is no point in decorating here when we will not spend the holiday at home.”
When asked about specific decorations, the students had very differing opinions. Some students may value the nostalgia and whimsy associated with multicolor lights, others the clean and well-lit look that comes with white lights, and the rest could settle somewhere in the middle with a mix of both!
Other questions were more controversial, most notably the question asking about favorite elements of decorations. Holiday lights were clearly the most popular, holding 39% of the vote, but ornaments and snowflakes were the second and third most answered, respectively.
Though people have different reasoning behind their personal yuletide preferences, Christmas still remains the best-decorated holiday in the eyes of SHC students. 66% (see pie chart on the right) of our students believe people decorate their houses better for Christmas than any other holiday, though a significant one-third of those surveyed picked Halloween.
SHC is a Catholic school and because of that, it likely has a higher proportion of people celebrating Christmas than the general public (though 10% of poll respondents reported celebrating Hanukkah). However, regardless of whether they celebrate Christmas, a vast majority of SHC students decorate their house for the holiday and believe it brings the world a sense of joy and community. Little traditions such as hanging ornaments and stringing up lights bring back nostalgic memories that make this holiday so much better, and part of that joy comes from the unique perspective each person has on it.
