...or carnival, depending on whom you ask!
This holiday season has been rather mild weather wise, so the students of Fair Hollow School for Girls decided to hold a winter festival on the school quad.
We decided to make this celebration more about school spirit, rather than religion, which is why we've called it a winter festival rather than a Christmas festival. We wanted to accommodate those students who celebrate Hanukkah as well as those of us who celebrate Christmas.
The Fair Hollow Glee Club performed many a Christmas carol that night, with several Hanukkah songs thrown in to appease Becky. Most students praised the Glee Club for their pretty voices, but the club had its critics, too. "How that girl thinks she can sing, I will never know," Lindsey was overheard while muttering to herself, likely in reference to Becky.
I spent the evening on the synthetic ice rink, trying to remember what Nathalie had taught me about skating. The skaters at Rockefeller Center last year made skating look so easy! Alas, I still have trouble gliding.
Eventually, I got the hang of it well enough to skate around the little rink a couple of times, but I think I'm going to write Nathalie a nice long letter about returning to Fair Hollow in the future. I need a figure skating instructor!
When I got tired of trying to ice skate, I joined everyone else at The Copper Horse Pub & Eatery, which has just been opened by our very own Lindsey and Anya! As they are Jewish, the pub is currently adorned in Judaica, and they only serve kosher foods. However, the pub is already a hit! It's a great place to get together with friends and classmates. A hang out is something we Fair Hollow students have badly needed as it gets boring hanging out in our dorm rooms all of the time!
Before the evening ended, we all took our holiday portraits. Here is mine! I am wearing the snowflake sweater that I received for Hanukkah the year I celebrated it with the Valdez quintuplets:
Finally, we had a group picture taken, which is a rarity at our school. From the top left, you can see Nellie, Samantha, Chiara, and Jessica. From the middle left, you can see Kit, Molly, and Emily. From the bottom left, you can see Anya, Lindsey, Becky, and finally me, Sophie!
We also made a video of the winter festival, which you can view here:
What is your favorite holiday tradition? Does your school - if you attend one - have a winter festival?
If I don't get online tomorrow, I'd like to wish all of my friends and fellow bloggers a very Merry Christmas, or as we say in French, Joyeux Noël! Happy Hanukkah, if you celebrate it!
Sophie