Advent traditions at school, home

The Catholic Church has designated the four weeks preceding Christmas as Advent, a time to prepare for the birth of our Savior, Jesus Christ. Advent is and will always be a special time for me and my community.

Catholic Central High School in Troy truly shows the meaning of Christmas and helps me to celebrate the season more deeply. The school community is always very supportive but, during the Christmas season, everything is more bright and vibrant. This year, the Honor Society at CCHS is supporting the Angels of Hope project, and every class is bringing in assigned medical products. This is just one example of how my school helps celebrate the season more deeply. At school, we also decorate the halls to show our holiday spirit. Another thing we do is deliver candy grams to each other where students send a candy cane to someone of your choice. It is a great way to show your friends how much you care about them. We are also raising money for the Christmas toy drive through dress downs. You must wear either an ugly Christmas sweater or Christmas apparel. I love how much Christmas spirit Catholic Central High School has, and it always puts me in the Christmas mood.

Advent is a huge part of my family and we have several traditions. One of my favorite traditions in my household is when we put our shoes out the night before St. Nicholas Day, December 5th, in hopes of receiving gifts. Every year we put up a Christmas tree as a family and we enjoy looking at all the homemade ornaments we have made in the past years. We also love to decorate gingerbread houses and make cookies together. We always attend Mass on Christmas Eve. Christmas is one of my favorite holidays because everyone comes together and they are filled with Christmas spirit.

Isadora Lee is a ninth-grade student at Catholic Central High School in Troy.