By Brandon Nguyen
With the COVID-19 pandemic dwindling down from the rise of vaccinations, winter break will look a lot different than last year. Many Barons are looking forward to it as a time to rest from school and make up for experiences they weren’t able to have last year. The challenges of the pandemic have reminded many people why we celebrate the holidays, which they may take for granted.
Photos by Charisse Nguyen.
“I’m going to be hanging out with my friends over [winter] break. I’m looking forward to spending time with my family who lives pretty far away. They live in Arizona and my family and I are driving there. I’m also looking forward to our tradition of making gingerbread houses every year and chilling with my family. For Christmas, I am hoping to get a laptop as a present,” freshman Maddie Musser said.
“This winter break, I’m planning to play in a soccer tournament down in Irvine. This soccer tournament is against different teams from neighboring cities and it’ll be with the Fountain Valley High School soccer team. For Christmas, I’m hoping to get the lego ‘AT-AT,’ but it’s $800 so it can only be a wish at this point. I usually celebrate Christmas with my mom, brother and grandma. We’re going to be celebrating Christmas at my house. This break will be a big time of rest for me and I get to do a very cool psychics project where I get to measure people’s power going up the stairs,” senior Keoni Porter said.
“This Winter Break, I’m looking forward to the movie, ‘Spider-man: No Way Home.’ I’ll be watching this movie with my family. For Christmas presents, I’m just hoping to get clothes. I’ll be able to rest more this break and I’m looking forward to my tradition of going to church on Christmas. At my Church, there’s a two hour session where we explain what Jesus has done. There’s the coming of Jesus which I find very exciting because Christmas was initially based on him,” sophomore Vincent Nguyen said.
“For winter break, I think I’m most excited about finishing all my homework and just getting much more sleep. I’m really looking forward to spending time with my family and seeing my sister, who I haven’t seen in a long time. She lives in another country and I haven’t seen her for a year because of COVID. For my New Year’s resolutions, I’m planning on not procrastinating, but we’ll see how that goes. I really like the Christmas vibe and how the break allows me to relax. The Christmas music puts me in the holiday mood and it’s just so much bigger than Thanksgiving,” sophomore Samantha Rivera said.
“Over winter break, I’m planning to spend some time with my family and friends. I’m doing football drills and will be enjoying Christmas. I’m part of the school football team and going to be practicing with the team. We’re also going to be doing weight training which we do almost every day. I’m going to be spending Christmas at my grandma’s house because that’s what I always did as a kid. It brings back memories and makes me feel like a kid again because as I’m getting older, there are more responsibilities. Last Christmas, I didn’t get to go to my grandma’s house because of COVID. For Christmas presents, I’ll be getting new headphones and shoes. I’m thinking of throwing a New Year’s party and I’m planning to do better in school for the next year,” sophomore Landon Rittenhouse said.
“This winter break, my family and I are planning to go to Hawaii. Then, I’ll be practicing badminton with the FVHS badminton team which consists of my friends. In Hawaii, I’m looking forward to eating chicken because over there, it tastes more fresh than from the mainland. With masks, I’m not sure how my family will celebrate Christmas this year. I really want a new phone as a Christmas present because I dropped it. Besides spending time with friends and family, I really want to make a New Year’s resolution over this break. One thing I’m already planning is to study more and to stop procrastinating, especially looking at my phone while studying,” freshman Jasmine Ha said.
“Over winter break, I plan to be playing a lot of video games and doing homework. I’m going to be playing the new Halo. For Christmas presents, I hope to get money and clothes. My family has a tradition where we have a Christmas pickle and put it in the tree. Whoever finds the pickle first gets to open the first present. On New Year’s, I’ll probably be hanging out with my friends and on my New Years Resolution, I’m hoping to get better grades,” junior Max Smith said.
“This winter break, I’m just looking forward to opening presents. I’m hoping to get money and Pokemon cards. There isn’t really anything different from last Year’s Christmas because we were able to do everything the same during the pandemic. I’m going to be celebrating with my family which consists of my Mom, sister, dad and two dogs. I’m looking forward to the Christmas dinner because I get to eat a lot. I’m a pescatarian, so I usually eat a big fish dinner with stuffing and mashed potatoes. I’m also going to be working over winter break. For my New Year’s resolution, I’m hoping to do better in school,” junior Maddox Carroll said.
“This winter break, I’ll probably be studying for finals. Definitely, I’m hoping to be baking with my family. I love baking cakes, cookies and pastries in general. For presents, I want a new phone because my old phone broke. For New Year’s eve, I’ll be celebrating it with my family. My family and I usually drink apple cider and party. For my New Year’s resolution, I’m going to work on getting straight A’s by studying harder,” sophomore Catherine Vu said.
“Over winter break, I’m looking forward to spending time with my friends and family. I’m planning on going to the mall and shopping with them. My favorite mall is Irvine Spectrum and I like going to the store, Pacsun. We haven’t put up the Christmas tree in my house yet, so I’m looking forward to that. We usually start by putting up the tree and then my Dad will bring in the ornaments. My sister will put up the ornaments, but I usually just watch. I’m hoping to get albums for Christmas presents. Some music albums I’m hoping for are BTS and TXT albums. I’m going to be celebrating New Year’s Eve with my family this year, which was different from last Year’s because I was with my cousins. Every New Year’s we go out into the snow, which I’m really looking forward to. I’m not sure if I’ll be making a New Year’s resolutions list because I broke all of them this year,” sophomore Lynn Do said.
