“For Thanksgiving, our whole family on my dad’s side gets together. We all go over to one of my aunt’s or one of my uncle’s houses, and we all eat dinner together. Then at Christmas, we all do the same thing all over again. We go to my uncle’s house, eat dinner, and open presents together on Christmas morning. My cousins live in Grand Haven, so I don’t [usually] get to hang out with them. I like the gathering at Christmas more because more of my family comes; they all make sure to make it out for Christmas because it’s a special thing. All of my aunts, uncles, and all of my cousins come out. [However] I don’t like the early Christmas music that people play right now; I think they do it so fast. Like it’s Nov 1, and they immediately start playing Christmas music. It ruins the Christmas spirit because it doesn’t even feel like Christmas time yet. And it’s just dumb when people play it before Halloween. I guess it makes more sense to do it in November because there isn’t “Thanksgivinga�� music, but when there’s Halloween music, and you’re playing Christmas music, that’s [just] silly.”

(Senior)