Decorations have been something that many people can enjoy and look at with cheerfulness. Many in our communities and around the world decorate to celebrate Christmas. Students and teachers in our La Salle community share how they decorate their homes and classrooms in preparation for the holidays.

Kira Caldwell

“I am a very big Christmas spirit person, so decorating really enhances that and brings it out,” sophomore Caldwell said, putting all of her decorations up in a single day to be able to enjoy all of them with her family sooner.

The Caldwell family always starts decorating for Christmas by cutting down a tree at a farm. “We decorate it with ornaments, and we put a star on top and lights,” Caldwell said. 

After putting up the tree, each of her family members have their own jobs.“My dad puts up the lights outside and he puts the tree up, and then my brother and I usually put the ornaments on,” Caldwell said, “Then my dad puts the star up while my mom also helps with the ornaments sometimes.”

Her family reuses their decorations every year, using decorations that her and her brother made when they were in elementary school. They also set up sentimental items that have been with them through the years during the Christmas season. 

For Caldwell, the best part about decorating for Christmas is going to get the Christmas tree. “It is such a fun experience picking out which one we think would go good in our house and which one looks the best.” Caldwell said. 

Ms. Barker

French teacher Ms. Barker’s favorite thing about decorating for Christmas is being able to decorate the tree. “I really love getting different ornaments, and looking at my ornaments year after year.” she said.

Many of the ornaments she puts on the tree are ones she made when she was younger or that have been passed down to her from family members. “I have some ornaments that my grandma made and even my great-grandma made,” Ms. Barker said. As well as the ones from her youth, Ms. Barker makes ornaments whenever the chance arises, “I made a wood ornament with the laser engraver in the Makerspace last week.” 

Ms. Barker has many decorating traditions that she still practices to this day. One tradition that she participates in every year is the Christmas pickle, “We always had a pickle ornament on the Christmas tree,” she said. The ornament is hidden in the tree so that it blends in with the green branches, whoever was able to find it got an extra present. 

In her classroom, Ms. Barker has always put up a miniature Christmas tree with lights and ornaments. She also puts some lights on her Eiffel Tower and puts up Christmas window decals to brighten the mood of her classes. She usually puts them up right after Thanksgiving and takes them down a couple days after New Year’s.

Ezra Moody

Moody finds that Christmas is a time for family, decorating and spending his time cheerfully with his family, “I feel happy because I get to spend time with my family.” Moody said.

Even though Moody does not spend too much time decorating because he is a very busy person, he is able to put the decorations up. His family puts up inflatables in the front of his house and lights and they put a real tree in their house with lights and ornaments.

His favorite decoration would be the wreath, even though he thinks it is the most cliche decoration, but he likes the simple and common aspect to it. 

For Moody, the best part of decorating is family. “I like the arguing and fighting that my family gets into, the fighting brings us together.” Moody said.

Moody’s family puts up their decoration at the end of October, “It is a common thing in the Philippines, they start Christmas in September.” Moody said. “People over there are just really excited for Christmas.”

Mr. Rathmann

Being a new home owner, Mr. Rathmann is excited to decorate his own home for the first time. “Putting up the lights for the first time as a homeowner was pretty exciting.” Mr. Rathmann said.

Every year, he goes to a National Forest and cuts down a tree. “You never have that picture perfect tree, but it’s always fun.” Mr. Rathmann said. He puts lights on them as well as ornaments.

Mr. Rathmann loves decorating, his favorite part being the ornaments. “I still have a lot of childhood ornaments, so just a lot of memory lane and a lot of those happy memories.” Mr. Rathmann said. 

He always hangs the ornaments that he has owned since he was a kid, but he also gets a new one every year from his sister-in-law who makes them. When he was a child, his mom had a tradition of getting ornaments every year after Christmas. He was always able to get a new ornament for the coming year through this tradition. “I for the most part have an ornament from every year and my mom always Sharpied on the year it was from.”Mr. Rathmann said.

Decorating for Christmas brings Mr. Rathmann a sense of joy as well as, “memories of Christmas past and joy and excitement for the future.” Mr. Rathmann said.

He loves decorations, though he finds that sometimes putting them up is not the easiest task to do, especially putting on the lights on the Christmas tree because, “it’s always a difficult time to find exactly where they should go.” Mr. Rathmann said.