Alexa Florkowski

Many countries around the world have traditions of their own, including on Christmas. Many of us decorate a tree and their house for Christmas but some countries have their own traditions that their families like to do. One tradition that we may be familiar with, as Americans, is putting an ornament pickle in the Christmas tree and finding it on Christmas. This was thought to have been from Germany but many people think it originated from the Americas. Berrien Springs, Michigan is the Christmas pickle capital of the world, where there is an annual pickle festival.

In Russia they celebrate Christmas on January 7th instead of December 25th because the Orthodox Church uses the old Julian calendar for religious celebrations.  In the Netherlands and Germany, the children fill their shoes with hay for the horses that help bring the presents to their house. They also believe that SinterKlaas and his helper Black Pete come and give them candy and presents on Christmas day. In Japan, for Christmas dinner many people eat fried chicken rather than ham or turkey. Also, in Greenland they eat auk wrapped in seal skin with whale blubber to celebrate the Christmas season. All around the world people celebrate different traditions with their families, many passed down from generation to generation to make the holiday season something unique and unforgettable.

  Brittany Battista

Christmas movies bring out the spirit and joy in Christmas in a lot of ways. They’re played on TV almost a month before and hundreds exist, all showing a Merry Christmas spirit. ABC family plays a “25 days of Christmas” program every year, it’s a tradition and merry, holly, jolly movies are played from December 1st to December 25th. Many people have a favorite Christmas movie, some classic and some new. When I interviewed the class, movies like The Polar Express, Home Alone, The Grinch, and Disney’s ‘Christmas Carol’ were mentioned as personal favorites.

There are many classic Christmas movies floating around that still warm your heart. Yet for every good Christmas movie there is a bad one as well. E-Online said the some of the worst Christmas movies are Four Christmases, Fred Claus, Santa with Muscles, and Santa Claus Conquers the Martians. The site also listed these movies as some of the best: Home Alone, Elf, A Christmas Story, It’s a Wonderful Life and White Christmas.

Christmas  movies can appeal to all ages.  Children often see the joy in Christmas movies through cartoons, while adults see the joy through romantic or comedic films. Year after year new Christmas movies come out and old ones come back. People report they watch Christmas movies for pure entertainment, for family tradition, and for getting in the Christmas spirit. They’re popular from the time it starts snowing until the ball drops on New Year’s Eve. Christmas movies never fail to put a smile on our faces and bring a little more joy to our lives. What are you going to watch this Christmas?

Megan Wilson & Sydney Flynn-Sypien

                We asked 10% our high school which of the following is their favorite Christmas movie: The Grinch Who Stole Christmas, The Polar Express, Home Alone, Santa Clause, Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer, and a choice of other.  The favorite Christmas Movie was

Home Alone, with 17 out of 52 people voting for it.

                                                                                                   
Kaitlyn Kelley


A great way to spend Christmas break with your family is to take a trip to Frankenmuth. A quick, couple hour ride straight up 23, it has great food, amazing shops, hotels, and is full of holiday spirit all year round.

Bronner’s Christmas Wonderland is a historical shop everyone should visit once in their life. It is filled with Christmas trees, decorations, and ornaments that you can customize. My family and I make sure to attend every year. Wally Bronner created Bronner’s Christmas Wonderland in 1945. Bronner’s is the world’s largest Christmas store covering 27 acres. It has the largest variety of Christmas decorations. You will be sure to find the best holiday decorations around.

Frankenmuth isn’t just a Christmas wonderland, but it also offers some of the best shops and restaurants around. They have unique stores for everyone to enjoy. The restaurants offer amazing food with outstanding service. Frankenmuth is a family oriented town that is sure to put you in the holiday spirit. You can also take an old fashioned horse drawn sleigh ride to view the beautiful sights that Frankenmuth has to offer.

Frankenmuth is a great place to celebrate the holidays with your family. You can visit the world famous Bronner’s Christmas Wonderland, eat at one of the fine restaurants, and shop ‘til you drop in this magical winter wonderland. So how are you going to spend your holidays? I know how I’ll be celebrating mine!

 

Savannah England and Kyra Kitchen

  Creamy Fudge:

Ingredients:

• ·         1 can (14-ounce) sweetened condensed milk
• ·         1 pound semisweet chocolate, chopped
• ·         1 ounce unsweetened chocolate, chopped
• ·         1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• ·         1/8 teaspoon salt

Directions:

1.      Line 8" by 8" metal baking pan with foil, extending foil above edge at 2 sides.

2.      In 2-quart saucepan, combine condensed milk and chocolates. Cook over medium-low heat 5 minutes or until chocolates melt and mixture is smooth, stirring constantly.

3.      Remove saucepan from heat; stir in vanilla and salt. Pour chocolate mixture into prepared pan; spread evenly. Refrigerate until firm, at least 4 hours or overnight.

4.      Remove fudge from pan by lifting edges of foil. Invert onto cutting board; discard foil. Cut fudge into 8 strips, and then cut each strip crosswise into 8 pieces. Store fudge in tightly covered container, with waxed paper between layers, at room temperature up to 1 week, or in refrigerator up to 1 month.

Puppy Chow

Ingredients:

•  9cups Rice Chex®, Corn Chex® or Chocolate Chex® cereal (or combination)
• 1cup semisweet chocolate chips
• 1/2cup peanut butter
• 1/4cup butter or margarine
• 1teaspoon vanilla
• 1 1/2cups powdered sugar

Directions:

1.        Into large bowl, measure cereal; set aside.

2.        2.In 1-quart microwavable bowl, microwave chocolate chips, peanut butter and butter uncovered on High 1 minute; stir. Microwave about 30 seconds longer or until mixture can be stirred smooth. Stir in vanilla. Pour mixture over cereal, stirring until evenly coated. Pour into 2-gallon resealable food-storage plastic bag.

3.        3. Add powdered sugar. Seal bag; shake until well coated. Spread on waxed paper to cool. Store in airtight container in refrigerator

Russian Tea Cakes

Ingredients:

• ·        1 cup butter or margarine, softened
• ·        ½ cup powdered sugar
• ·        1 teaspoon vanilla
• ·        2 ¼ cups Gold Medal all-purpose flower
• ·        ¾ cup finely chopped nuts
• ·        ¼ teaspoon salt

Directions:

1.        Heat oven to 400 degrees F

2.        Mix butter, ½ cup powdered sugar and the vanilla in a large bowl. Stir flour, nuts and salt until dough holds together.

3.        Shape dough into 1-inch balls. Place about 1 inch apart on ungreased cookie sheet.

4.        Bake 10-12 minutes or until set but not brown. Remove from cookie sheet. Cool slightly on wire rack.

5.        Roll warm cookies in powdered sugar; cool on wire rack. Roll in powdered sugar again.

By Lois Baley

Every year on Halloween, children of all ages dress up to go trick or treating. Originally the costumes were made to scare people, but now it is a fun day to be someone you’re not and receive candy for your efforts! Here is a list of the most popular costumes for Halloween 2013.


1) Zombies.  Zombies have been shown this year through a few new movies, World War Z, Evil Dead, along with the TV show The Walking Dead. 


2) Traditional. Still very popular are the long-time favorites: Vampires,Witches, Ghosts, Skeletons. 

3) Super Heroes are very popular considering all of the new super hero movies like Iron Man 3, Man of Steel, and Oz The Great and Powerful.

4) A hot new trend is Despicable Me 2, coming soon from Universal Pictures

5) Disney princesses are still extremely popular along with characters from the new movie Tangled.

6) A new popular one is the new TLC show called Duck Dynasty. 

There you have it… the 2013 list of popular Halloween costumes! Remember to count those zombies this year!

By Michael Roop

With Halloween right around the corner, many people are wondering what the “correct” age to stop trick or treating is. I asked  twenty people. Twelve of them said never, because if you have kids you take them ! Five others said at twenty one, and the other three said you stop when you want to.

Personally, I think that people should stop trick or treating at 20. I feel like 20 is the end of childhood, and along with the end of childhood comes certain things that you should stop doing with adulthood. Although there continues to be debate on the right age to cease trick or treating, something everybody can agre  is that candy is tasty and therefore complicates this debate.

Top 10 Halloween Movies of all Time

1.        The Exorcist (1973)

2.        Freaks (1932)

3.        Alien (1979)

4.        Psycho (1960)

5.        Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974)

6.        The Shining (1974)

7.        Halloween (1978)

8.        The Silence of Lambs (1991)

9.        The ring (2002)

10.     Saw (2004)

Top 10 Kid Friendly Halloween Movies

1.        It’s the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown

2.        Casper

3.        Frankenweenie

4.        Hocus Pocus

5.        Hotel Transylvania

6.        Monster House

7.        The Haunted Mansion

8.        The Nightmare Before Christmas

9.        ParaNorman

10.     Wallace and Gromit The Curse of the Were-Rabbit