The holidays are filled with love, family, food and, though not quite as important, Santa Claus and presents. No matter which holiday your family celebrates, in a season overflowing with nostalgia and old stories, what better time than to reminisce? With the holidays approaching, Illinois students share their favorite past memories.

Madison Kaufman

sophomore in AHS

“Last year, we went to the ZooLights at the Lincoln Park Zoo and that was fun because we had never done that before. It was our first time and it was really Christmas-y and festive, which was nice.”

Joey Zajac

freshman in Engineering

“Probably opening presents Christmas morning. I liked it when I was little, and my favorite year was probably the year before I found out Santa Claus wasn’t real. I was the most excited about it, so it was the most fun.”

Isabelle Long

freshman in Engineering

“All my cousins and aunts and I went to downtown Chicago to go ice skating in Millennium Park about six years ago. We were all still pretty young so it was a great time to spend with my family.”

Brendan Held

sophomore in Business

“I would say the biggest thing for me is just spending time with family that I don’t get to see very often (because) they come from different states. Since they are my family and I don’t get to see them very often, I like to spend time with them any chance I get because I may only get to see them once or twice a year, so it makes it that much more special to see them.”

Reetahan Mukhopadhyay

freshman in Engineering

“Spending Christmas at my house with my family. Two years ago, we invited several family and friends over for dinner, and the food was my favorite. There was this big chicken, assorted green beans, carrots and apple pie.”

Jack Flanagan

freshman in Engineering

“Eating food on Thanksgiving. It’s just a fun time to just pig out, and my mom makes really good mashed potatoes.”

Eunice Lee

freshman in LAS

“Seeing and opening the presents on Christmas morning. Waking up early and running downstairs and opening up the presents and that makes me feel like a kid. Because I’m at college now, I guess I can appreciate it more and spend time with family.”

Matthew Mentzer

freshman in LAS

“My family usually goes up to Colorado to go skiing for Christmas, and I love skiing. It’s really fun because my whole extended family goes, so spending time with them is really nice. My parents used to do it when they were young, so the trip kinda just continued.”

Arden Youn is a freshman in Business.

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