Many people love the winter season. Whether it is the children excited for presents, the parents eager to make memories, or the teenagers who will not admit that they enjoy spending the time with their family, most have something to be excited about. 

One thing that is not talked about when it comes to the holiday season is the tradition that it brings. Whether it is big or small, times like this bring families together in a variety of ways. 

“The tradition that we have is that on Christmas Eve, we will play this game called “Sequence,” it is a board game, and essentially it is just Connect 4 but with cards and the only places that you can put your tokens are where the cards are. So, what we will do is if the kids win that game that night, we get to open the presents that are under the tree on Christmas Eve. If the adults win, we have to wait until Christmas morning,” Alexander Hooper, freshman music business major, said. “It is a very competitive game and it is something that we practice on Thanksgiving and things of that nature.”

While playing card games and getting rowdy always seems like a fun way to amp up the holiday spirit, others do it in a more relaxed way. 

“My family has many holiday traditions. Over 10 years ago, we established that our favorite tradition is decorating gingerbread houses on Christmas Eve,” Keely McMillian, Vice President for student affairs, said. 

Maybe staying up late is your family’s go to.

“On Christmas Eve my whole family goes to my grandparents house and spend Christmas together, but we wait until midnight to open presents,” Leah Lopez, junior animal science major, explained

Getting together with the whole family can be a lot of fun, but sometimes it is nice to just have a small tradition that means the most to you and your immediate family. 

“On Christmas Eve, we always open one present. It has to be the biggest or the smallest and then we open the rest on Christmas day,” Brenna Light, freshman English major at Austin College, said. 

Whether your tradition be big or small, it brings happiness and that is all anyone could ask for. Even if it is you and your mother watching Charlie Brown Christmas together a few days before Christmas Eve, such as Parker Owens, a McDonald’s manager in Sherman, Texas, and his mom do, it brings the holiday spirit.