This week, nearly 150 PGHS students shared their winter break plans with The Newsbreaker. When asked, 96.2% of students shared that they take part in some kind of winter celebration, with only 5.2% who have never celebrated. The most common way people choose to celebrate their holidays is at home with their families, making up 86.9% of people, with a distant second and third being visiting loved ones and traveling, respectively.

Interestingly, most students prefer receiving practical, tangible gifts, raking in a staggering 78.8% of the votes, rather than experiences such as traveling or going to concerts. When asked, many students cited that some of their favorite holiday traditions included decorating the house and tree, making holiday food, playing games, and watching holiday movies. Some students mentioned more unique traditions, like walking through Pacific Grove’s Candy Cane Lane or going Christmas tree ‘hunting’. Interestingly, when asked, 19.7% of students stated that they much rather receive gifts than give them, while others said they prefer to give gifts (24.2%). 56.1% of respondents said that they enjoy both. One consistency between most students surveyed was the mention of holiday cookies as their favorite holiday treat. Other mentions include hot chocolate, gingerbread, and eggnog. Uniquely, one student shared that they enjoy fried black beans for the holidays and another mentioned their affinity for Winternacht.

Finally, we asked where in the world students would like to spend the holiday season. 54% of students said that they would like to spend their holidays in a snowy village, 18.7% said they preferred a big city with holiday decorations, while 12.7% liked the idea of spending it on a tropical beach. Other mentions include locales such as Italy, Japan, Syria, Jamaica, and Switzerland. From talking to students about their post-finals plans, it is clear that PGHS is a diverse student community with many different traditions and opinions on everything Winter!