Gift Giving, Receiving for the Holidays

Gift+Giving%2C+Receiving+for+the+Holidays

Briana Ventrella, Staff Reporter

christmas tree  Since the holiday season is right around the corner, MHS students were asked about their holiday wish lists and their view on gift giving. With Christmas, Hanukkah and Kwanzaa, gift giving and receiving has become a recurring event and a tradition among families and friends.

For the holidays this year, Gabby Zimmer, freshman, is excited to go shopping for gifts to give to her relatives and closest peers. Specifically, she and her friends like to celebrate by participating in Secret Santa.
Secret Santa is a game where each person in a group is assigned another person in that group to secretly remember with a present. When it is time to exchange, each person must attempt to guess who his or her Secret Santa was.

But one of the best gifts Zimmer ever gave was to her close friend.

“I gave her an ‘all-about-her’ basket filled with all of her favorite things,” said Zimmer.
She added that the best part about this gift was seeing the shocked look on her friend’s face because it gave her a sense of accomplishment when she saw her friend happy.

“I think that people associate holidays with gifts instead of what the celebrating is meant for,” said Zimmer.

To her, the holidays are about spending time with friends and family and appreciating one’s surroundings. Although giving and receiving is thoughtful, Zimmer thinks that it is too much of a distraction from the meaning of the holidays.

Angel Pacheco, sophomore, is hoping to get a PS4 for the holidays this year because he loves gaming. But what he is really hoping for is to be successful with his gift giving.

“I love giving during the holidays because it makes my heart warm,” said Pacheco.

His favorite memory of gift giving was when he gave his grandparents plane tickets to go to Mexico.

To him, gift giving during the holiday season allows him to bring joy to his family and friends– what he thinks the holidays are about.

“One of my favorite parts is doing gifts with my friends because we like to get each other funny things,” said Pacheco.

He likes the laughs it brings to him and his friends, as the gifts suggest what other people associate with the gift receiver.

This holiday season, Libby Chuma, senior, is looking forward to giving her presents to her friends and family.

“The [holidays] are a time to give and love,” said Chuma. “I think gifts, big or small, just emphasize how much people care about you.”

She said that it’s interesting when exchanging with friends because they each get to see how much they pay attention to the things they say, like, dislike and do.

“I like giving to my friends because I love seeing how happy I make them when I get them something they really wanted,” said Chuma.

For example, her favorite gift she has given someone was a picture frame with her and her friend in it.

Although gifts are a much appreciated aspect of the holidays, the commonly-known factor of the holidays is spending quality time with family and friends.