With the close of the semester coming up, and as winter break approaches, students are making plans to spend their two weeks off of school. All students and teachers are officially on a two week break when the final bell rings on Friday, December 21st. We don’t return to school until Monday, January 7th. That gives students plenty of time to recuperate and regroup their thoughts. Many students already have an array of exciting and fun plans.

Some students are deciding to spend the holidays with their families. Some may have to travel a bit of distance to see them.

“I am having a new years eve party and I am having my family over for Christmas,” junior Rebecca Russell said. “The rest of my break will be spent hanging out with my friends.”

Some students are traveling across the states to visit their distant family.

“I am going to Missouri to visit my family and all my friends that used to live there,” sophomore Cooper Purvis said. “I haven’t seen them in a long time and I’m happy to spend the holidays with them.”

The holidays is a perfect time to spend surrounded by family and friends.

“I am spending Christmas with my grandparents in Danville,” sophomore Alexis Williams said. “The remainder of the break I will just hang out with my friends and enjoy the time off.”

The trip can sometimes take a long time, which is perfect to make over break.

“I am going to Wisconsin to see all of my family,” sophomore Jonathan Moore said. “I am pretty much spending the entire break there.”

For some people the holidays are not a big activity. They may just be staying home and spending their two weeks as they please.

“I am spending a lot of time with my boyfriend,” sophomore Alyssa Scardina said. “We are going to see movies and drive around and look at Christmas lights.”

Some people don’t even get to relax during their break, and life carries on as it normally would.

“I am working at Chick-fil-a a for most of my time off,” junior Morgan Geisler said. “The rest of my free time will be spent hanging out with my friends.”

Some people are utilizing the break to take a personal vacation. If they aren’t traveling they are catching up on sleep and enjoying indoor heating.

Sophomore Hannah Hunter said, “I am going to Michigan to see my family and when I get back I already have plans with a bunch of my friends.” The lack of school gives you time to do whatever you want. Sophomore Sam Malloy said, “My family is coming to visit, and then I plan to spend the rest of the break sleeping.”

Some family rituals are set in stone and have been happening for years. They have a specific tradition that they do every year for the holidays.

“Every year around Christmas time my family and I get together and have a snowball fight,”  sophomore Alex Hohn said. “If there is no snow that year we have this fake snow that we use instead.”

Some of these traditions are more formal.

“Every year when I get off for break I go straight up to Maryland where my mom lives and we go out to dinner,” sophomore Kyleigh Grandy said. “It is basically a celebration for everything that has happened in the past year.”

The two weeks that we get off is plenty of time for students to enjoy themselves and reset their sleep schedules. When we come back it will be a bit rough in the beginning, but hopefully we will all return energized and rejuvenated. We are going to return to our new classes and get right back to working hard and getting good grades. Students are going to come back with stories of all their amazing adventures over break. Everyone is tired and run down and this break is very needed.