One of the busiest times of year is approaching, and while there’s snow on the ground families are gathered to spend quality time together. Over the years people have prepared for these upcoming holidays because they are a time that people can be together and celebrate these holidays. Although the holidays sound great and exciting, the work behind them and getting prepared isn’t easy.

Alba Guzman is a mother of three girls (Jianely, Tiare, And Jianny) and she was able to share with us how she prepares herself before the holidays. Alba starts by writing down her budget. “Staying on budget isn’t easy,” because there is such a large amount of family members she has to get gifts for.

Alba’s favorite part of holiday shopping is for her nieces and nephews because all you have to get them is toys. She asks them what kind or type of toy they want and she writes it down on her notebook. Then later on that week she goes to the stores and buys it for them. Her personal view of the holidays is that they are stressful due to getting everything done on time, but Alba is a person who loves to give and make everyone feel welcomed to her house.

Although she isn’t the type of person to cook she does not mind shopping for her family. As Alba kept sharing her view towards the holidays, she shared with us one of her family traditions. Alba grew up with having tamale (Guatemalan food) every Christmas and opening Christmas gifts at midnight to this day they keep the tradition going. Her advice for new shoppers is: “Make a list it will become such a great help, the best gift to give someone is gift cards because whoever receives it can get what they like, lastly have fun and enjoy your time with your family.”

Students from West High School took a survey about holiday prep and how they feel about it. More than 89 percent of students said that holidays are the most exciting thing there could be, but could also be stressful due to the amount of gifts and the need to get things done on time. The students from West get stressed because the week before the holidays began finals are out and the number of finals you have to take gets overwhelming. Students aren’t the only ones that get stressed. Teachers only have a certain amount of time to get things graded and put into Zangle before the semester grades go out to the parents.

Mrs. Hendricks is a biology teacher at West and she shared how she manages to get grading done on time. Mrs. Hendricks is someone who likes to be organized with everything she does and she says it’s ridiculous how much of an organized person she is. She has a folder for every assignment and manages to have graded papers in one folder and ungraded papers on another folder.

Mrs. Hendricks doesn’t celebrate the holidays due to her personal beliefs, so during those breaks she spends time with her newborn baby and her husband. The minimum time she spends grading papers is about two hours a day. She likes to take her time and while the students in her class are doing their assignments she grades papers to keep things on time. Her advice for students is, “Keep your grades up and don’t slack in school. If you try that’s all it matters.”