(Disclaimer: I LOVE CHRISTMAS SO MUCH, but I don’t technically celebrate it…CHRISTMAS IS A STATE OF MIND SO IT DOESN’T MATTER! If you were expecting this article to casually review the upcoming holidays, YOU WERE WRONG: SO LET’S BEGIN WITH THE FESTIVITIES!)
Welcome to the article I have been most excited to write for The Mountaineer. I love Christmas. There. I said it.
Why do I love Christmas? BECAUSE EVERYONE IS SO HAPPY. The holiday season means that everyone loves everything, and everyone is listening to music, and everything lights up, and there’s color everywhere..it’s great. I also think it’s beautiful that everyone I know has holiday traditions, like decorating their tree or baking cookies or just spending time with their family because their families are amazing.
I know, as you are reading this, it’s a little early for Christmas, but go give someone in your family a hug…your mom, your dad, your grandma or grandpa, your brother or sister…Give them a hug, and then give them another hug from me, because two hugs are better than one.
Mountain Lakes has SO MANY of its own traditions. Notably, this year, we have started many new traditions too. But before I go over them, go get yourself some hot chocolate. If you don’t have a cup of hot chocolate by now, I am not mad at you–just disappointed. Go make some hot chocolate, ya filthy animal.
Okay, ready?
The Tree Lighting
Trees are a Christmas STAPLE. And don’t give me that “oh I don’t celebrate Christmas” response; Christmas is not a season–it is a feeling. Trees are included in this feeling.
I know what you’re thinking: “I don’t need this little girl telling me about the ‘spirit’ of Christmas, this isn’t some Hallmark movie.”
To that I say, yes, this is a Hallmark movie, and I will be the little child from a small town that will teach the big city CEO about the true meaning of Christmas (while also leaving rather large plot holes, like how I suddenly trust this absolute random adult after having two encounters with them).
Anyway, Mountain Lakes has its own huge tree on the Boulevard, decorated from top to bottom with some of the most amazing lights: beautiful. This tree is also next to our town’s menorah, even though Hanukkah is now over. You can still look at it if you just love Hanukkah and you’re feeling that Hanukkah mood all winter long.
At the tree lighting, the town got to listen to the MLHS Chamber Choir sing some amazing Christmas tunes. If you are like me and you love listening to Christmas music, I got a video of the Chamber Choir singing; you can listen to your friends absolutely sleigh all of the Christmas bops on repeat! (You also have permission to bully me because of that pun). By the way, if you came to the Mountaineer Holiday Party and are wondering where to get that amazing Christmas playlist, I got you covered 🙂
Christmas in the Hallways
We here at The Mountaineer LOVE US SOME SCHOOL APPRECIATION and, coincidentally, so does the Student Government Association. The SGA was hard at work, one Friday afternoon, to make our school look as amazing as it now does.
And listen here, I know it looks cool, but the SGA worked a lot of long and hard hours to get the hallways looking as good as they do, so please don’t touch it. If you are really tall, I’m sorry but that’s not my problem; you chose to be tall, so you can choose to duck in the hallways (that said, it would be appreciated if you did).
Also, to the SGA, I’m sorry I couldn’t make it: I had to babysit. Please don’t be mad at me; I am hoping that this free press will make up for it. (Btw while you are on Instagram following the SGA instagram, go follow @mlmountaineer on Instagram. I promise we follow back so you can keep your ratio).
Appreciation for All Holidays!
Now, before you leave an angry comment arguing that Mountain Lakes is actually exclusive and doesn’t care about Hanukkah or other holidays, YOU ARE WRONG FOR THE THIRD TIME. I love me some Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, and, Mr. Ziccardi’s preferred celebration: Festivus.
However, I feel bad talking about these holidays because I don’t know that much about them (besides Hanukkah…I know about Hanukkah. I’m not completely ignorant). BUT, this year, I did some reading to try and be less ignorant. Here: I put some nice links so you can read up on these holidays, in case you are feeling like doing some light reading this break!
If you are feeling like you want to air some grievances, like Tyler Koy (’20) does, maybe you can buy a Festivus pole…or you can just visit the one that we have in the hallway! Mr. Ziccardi approves of this installment because he has a lot of grievances this year. So, be on the lookout for him yelling through the hallways as break comes closer and closer. (Also, if Mr. Ziccardi is reading this, I did use the History Channel as one of my websites to learn about Kwanzaa. Please don’t come for me).
For those of you who celebrate sweets instead of religions during the holiday season, there are some beautiful gingerbread houses that the Nutrition classes made on display in the front lobby. You can get some inspiration for your own gingerbread house! Just don’t copy them exactly because I don’t know if they have any kind of copyright laws against gingerbread artwork and I don’t want to be held accountable for this. Actually, I don’t know if there is any criminal sentence for aiding and abetting in copyright gingerbread decorating. Maybe just don’t copy the gingerbread.
How Jim Carrey Stole Our Childhood Innocence
It can’t be Christmas in Mountain Lakes without the Grinch. Believe me, people have so many different opinions about the Jim Carrey-live-action version of the Grinch.
When asking the MLHS student body whether or not they liked the live-action Grinch, the general response pretty much was “Oh god that movie gave me nightmares.”
Why?
“They look like that.”
Understandable. Completely understandable.
Martha May Whovier is a primary offender of “she looks like that.” Her costuming and acting choices created some strange sexual tensions my tender young mind just was not ready/did not want to comprehend. Luckily Christine Baranski, the actress, went on to redeem herself by doing the original movie version of Mama Mia!… Where she played an oversexualized middle aged woman… again…
Next up on the chopping block is the baby version of the Grinch. That was pure nightmare fuel. The big eyes made it cute, but how it moved and the plastic look to its entire face made it look like a robot. Lucky for you, I checked, and there was indeed an actual human playing it. The tween Grinch was actually done quite well and kudos to Josh Ryan Evans for playing the classic character with not tooooo many facial expressions.
Jim Carrey has a face that makes shapes normal faces shouldn’t and for that, I applaud him. But the use of said face in a children’s film is not the best move. After years of watching the film, I began enjoying his portrayal of the Grinch, but generally the student body disagreed. A whopping 7/9 people felt like this version should “burn in Hell”. According to Dr. Hittinger, PhD, Jimbo is a “one trick pony” who relies way too much on the same thing to be funny.
The Grinch was without a doubt a strange movie, and it will always hold a ….. special…… place in our three-sizes-too-small hearts.
I am hoping that I was able to get you in the festive mood and, even if I didn’t, please pretend like I did because I care so much about Christmas.
I hope all of you have a wonderful break and a wonderful holiday season! I also realized that this is officially my last article for 2018, so I wanted to say thank you to all of the wonderful people who read The Mountaineer and support us, and we will see you in 2019 (with our new Mountaineer merch)!
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