Favorite family traditions

Gathering family.

Stringing up lights

Baking cookies.

Some holiday events are universal.

Yet families carve their own unique traditions, too.

For today's education page, we asked Barbara Foltz's sixth-graders to tell about their favorite holiday traditions. Some of the Mountview Elementary students wrote about reuniting family. Others, of covering the house in lights. And, of course, there's opening presents, presents and more presents.
Here's a sampling of their essays and illustrations. (Some have been edited so as many as possible could be printed.)

"My family's tradition is probably not that unusual, but it is my favorite. Every year we draw names from a bowl. We put all the young kids' (like from 17 and under) names in a bowl. Starting from the youngest, they draw a name of someone else. This year I got my cousin, Cody. My cousin, Chase, got me. I'm pretty excited about that. Each person can only spend as much money for the gift as however old they are. For example, if you are seven, you can't spend more than $7 on a gift. And if you are under 5, you can't spend more than $5. If you are older than 10, you can't spend more than $10 on a gift. You can't tell the other person what you got for them.

"Then, when it is Christmas, the youngest person gives their present to whomever they got. Then that person gives their gift to their person. Sometimes one person gets the same person that had them. If that happens, then the next youngest person that hasn't gone already gives his present. That is my favorite Christmas tradition." — Tyler Arns

"In my country (Peru) at Christmas our tradition is to put a big tree in the living room, with a green mountain with sheep and other animals, and a little old house, with Jose, Maria and a little baby bed with a little baby Jesus. The baby Jesus was born at Christmas at 12:00 midnight. We eat and then we watch fireworks in the mountains. At 12:00, we open our presents and eat paneton, a cake of bread with pieces of fruit. It is really good. At midnight, we all say, 'Merry Christmas,' and sometimes a star from the sky flies in like when Jesus was born. And that is our tradition." — Andres Sanches

"My favorite Christmas tradition is every other year we have a fake tree, and we use the money to see if we can help buy a real tree for someone else. It's the tradition in my family. It's the tradition my family likes the most. We can give the tree to someone in many different ways. Sometimes we leave it on the steps, other times we leave it in a parking lot and sometimes we give it to them as an early Christmas present." — Kilye Ellisor

"My favorite Christmas tradition is drawing names with my aunts, uncles, cousins and grandparents. Every year we put our names in a bowl. We take turns picking a name. My mom usually asks me what I want for a present, then she tells the person with my name what I would like. I usually get one of the presents I ask for.
"One year, my grandma picked my name. She lives in California. She sent me a very special gift. It was a gift I would never have thought of asking for but has become very special to me. She sent me an angel with special wings. The wings are kind of like newspaper paper. On each wing are little stories about me with pictures. I think this is the best gift anyone has ever given me. Each Christmas, I display my angel, and it seems like my grandma is not so far away. I know she really loves me." — Shane Carver

"On December 5th of each year, we have a big Mexican celebration at my uncle's house. We have a wonderful traditional, Mexican feast with tacos, enchiladas, tamales and mole. Mole is my favorite. After dinner the kids get to break a pinata filled with candy.
"What is really fun is what happens next. We go outside in my uncle's back yard. He has decorated his yard with different colored balloons. Each balloon has a small piece of paper with a number written on it. If your balloon has a number from 1 to 10, you get a prize.
"When we go back inside, my uncle passes around a basket with names written on small pieces of paper. Each of us chooses one paper. The name on the paper is the person we have to buy a Christmas present for. We have about thirty-five relatives at our fiesta.
"On Christmas we meet again to exchange presents. After the giving of gifts, my uncle takes pictures of all the presents that have been placed under the tree. We have pictures of all our Christmases since 1961." — Arnold Rodriguez

"My favorite tradition is what we do on Christmas Eve. We put up our Christmas tree. It is my job to untangle the lights. We all decorate the tree with our favorite ornaments. My brother puts garland on the tree. When we are finished, we put the star on top. My youngest brother just helps with the ornaments that won't break. Before we go to bed, we get to open one present of our choice. Usually, my brothers and I choose our biggest present." — Chris Robles

"My favorite Christmas tradition is to go to Hawaii. When we go to the airport, we wait for other people to get off the plane that is going to take us. While the plane is getting ready, we go and get some food so that we are not hungry on the plane. Once we are about an hour away from land they give us food. Sometimes they have bad food and sometimes it is delicious. When we get there, we go to the beach and play for a couple of hours. Then we usually go to a Loo-Owe (luau) and watch the fireworks at night while we are eating our dinner. Then we go home and we get some sleep for the next day because we are going scuba diving and get close to the turtles but not touch them. After we are done scuba diving we go to the beach, and we snorkel there.
"I am so grateful that I have a family that I love that I go to Hawaii with, I feel bad that some people can't go because they don't have enough money." — Braeden Nemelka

"Thirty days before Christmas, which is about December 1st, my whole family goes to my grandparents to start the 'White Elephant' present giving. We eat a morning dinner. After dinner, we put our chairs in a very big circle. My grandpa stands in the middle of the circle with a blindfold on his eyes and a baseball bat in his hands. He spins in a circle seven times and stops. The person that the bat is pointing at is the person to start the 'White Elephant' present giving.
"This year my sister was the chosen one. What she has to do is get a white elephant present and give it to another member of the family. No one knows who that person is except for my sister. The person receiving the gift chooses a white elephant gift and gives it to another member of the family the next day. Then each person in the family should get a present before the last day of Christmas.
"At the beginning, everyone receives a note pad. When a present is given, we write on our note pad the name of the person we think received the gift. We do this so when it is our turn to give a gift, we don't give it to someone who has already received a present. Sometimes we are wrong and a person will get two gifts. At the end of December, everybody meets at my grandparents' and shows their 'White Elephant' gift. Some of the gifts are really funny, because a 'white elephant' gift is usually something the giver doesn't want. It shouldn't cost very much money, if the giver decides to buy a gift." — Alex Turner

"My family has a tradition of 'Lighting the bag with the Spirit.' My family and my aunts and uncles and their families go up to my grandma's. Each family puts at least 20 white bags on the sidewalk in front of the house. Next we put sand in all the bags and light candles and stick them in the bags. When we put the candle in the bag, we think of Jesus and how he sacrificed his life for us, and we think of his birth. That is how we light the bag with the spirit. It is my favorite family tradition . . . to think of Jesus." — Ashley Shields

"On the night of Christmas Eve, we make Santa special cookies, and we leave the reindeer grapes, lettuce and carrots. Then in the morning, I wake up before anybody and I go see if Santa came. Sometimes I eat a little bit of candy from my stocking. I go back to bed if it is too early, then I wake up again and wake up my parents and my little brother, too." — Shawn Wright

"My favorite Christmas tradition is, when my family comes to Utah. When my family comes here we always go pick them up from the airport. They always come the Saturday before Christmas. We have dinner every night before Christmas comes. My cousins Amanda, Ashley, my Aunt Kathy, my Uncle Bud, and my Uncle Jr. (sometimes, at least, he lives in Tucson, Arizona. He is an archaeologist). The only time we see Uncle Jr. is over the holidays. On Christmas night he comes to visit his little girls. Then we go downstairs and watch a movie, it is always a Christmas movie. Then we play pool, card games, Pictionary and all the other games. When we are finished we all go upstairs and talk about how our year went. When we are finished, we all open our last present. Then our Christmas weekend is over. We take the cousins back to the airport, and the next time we see them is on my birthday. " — Alexandria Gallegos

"Every year over Christmas break we watch Christmas movies like 'Scrooge' and 'The Santa Clause' and we bake cookies. Sometimes I bake the cookies myself. They are usually gingerbread. On Christmas Eve we go to the Koyo, a Japanese restaurant, and Sam and I get to open one present.
"At 5 a.m. I wake up on Christmas morning and look in my stocking. I usually get an orange, makeup, candy and a video. When we are all up we eat breakfast and open presents.
"After we eat, we go to my Grandpa Tom's house for a while and about 1 or 2 o'clock we go to my Great Aunt Donna's house and open the presents that she got us. Sometimes we have the whole family come to our house and have a Christmas party.
'I often get my friends Mica, Tami, Alexandria, Mackenzie and Dacia presents. Sometimes they get me presents. too.
"Every year on Christmas day my brother Sam and I have an annual snowball fight. This year will be our sixth annual snowball fight." — Carly Nielson

"My favorite Christmas tradition is spending time with friends and family on Christmas Eve. It is a lot of fun. We do a lot of neat things.
"First we will invite our friends to our house. We will call them all. Then tell them when to come over.
"Once they come over we will all open one present. We might play with the new toy or watch the new movie. Then we will all eat. We usually eat chicken with mashed potatoes, and for dessert we will eat a cake that my Mom makes (we never know what kind of cake it'll be).
"Once we have eaten, we will go downstairs. We will drink hot chocolate or eggnog while watching TV. We usually watch 'Jack Frost' or other Christmas shows. At the end of the day when our friends leave we'll all go to bed.
"That is why my favorite Christmas tradition is spending time with family and friends. My favorite part is when we eat and all watch TV. This is what spending time with family and friends is all about." — Stefan Djordjic

"On Christmas, we go to my aunt's house and eat Christmas dinner with my family. We go and sit in a circle and my cousin gives out the presents to who we got. So, after we get home, we open two presents and change our clothes and go up to our room and put the Grinch in and go to sleep." — Shelbie Brewer