The holiday season is a time when families come together, celebrate, and enjoy a nice, relaxing break. Many families have traditions, such as: decorating, baking special cuisines, playing different sports, or drinking hot cocoa by the fire. Many of these traditions are seen as fun activities to do during the holidays. Some, in fact, are hobbies people enjoy participating in all year round. Here are just a few hobbies people love for celebrating the holiday season.

During the transition between fall and winter, the weather tends to become cold and windy. However, there are very few days people take advantage of because of warmer weather, which is the perfect time to play seasonal sports. A few of these sports include football, soccer, basketball, and hockey. For some families, an annual family football game is played during Thanksgiving. This tradition is very popular in the United States considering that the NFL Super Bowl is held in February.

In fact, teacher and coach at Windsor High School, Jeff Stoffey said, “My friends and I play a game of football annually at Windsor on Thanksgiving morning. We are getting a little too old.”

Other activities, including watching plays and musicals, are more on the entertainment side of the spectrum. Many theaters and companies involved in the arts put on annual shows for the public to enjoy. Many of these shows include The Nutcracker, A Christmas Carol, and The Snow Queen.

Sophomore Samantha Weidner said, “Every year my family and I go to The Fox to see a play. It’s one of my favorite traditions.”

Many students at Windsor High School are involved in such plays. One traditional play held every year is Christmas At Windsor Castle. The audience is presented with dinner and a show. The event is put on by teacher Elaine Geimer and Windsor’s Shakespeare Society. The entire commons area at the high school is turned into a castle with stone walls and knights in shining armor. To top it all off, the low lighting makes the impeccable Christmas decorations shine like a star on top of a tree.

Sophomore Autumn Carpenter, who was a waiter at Christmas At Windsor Castle, said, “It was well worth it and fun. I felt like I did something good, the people there were nice, and it felt like the spirit of Christmas was right there.”

During the season of giving, many families have a tradition of helping the homeless. People run charity drives, knock on doors, and collect goods to put in care packages. They, then, either donate them to homeless shelters and charities, or deliver them to people living in the streets. Many of these packages include warm clothing, canned goods, toiletries, and small gifts to brighten others’ days. Windsor Student Council’s  appreciation chairs Emma Drew and Jaylen Tinsley are in charge of making Thanksgiving Baskets, which are filled with supplies for making Thanksgiving dinner for people in the community.

Tinsley said, “We make a list of all the clubs in the school… and ask if they would be interested in participating. Then, they give us the baskets, and we send them to the people who need them.”

After lifting the spirits of others, people love to relax and reward themselves. Some ways to do so are baking delicious holiday desserts, drinking hot chocolate, and snuggling up by the fire. For a great deal of people, this is what a traditional Christmas Eve looks like. Some families spend a classic Christmas Eve with a family gifts exchange.

Freshman Maggie Funston said, “After my family and I come home from visiting our relatives (on Christmas Eve), we look for Santa in the sky.”