Rushing down the stairs on Christmas morning, eating roasted turkey legs on Christmas Eve, secret Santa exchanges between family members: annual winter holiday traditions are what make the end of a laborious first semester worth it for many students. While some string lights on a Christmas tree they chopped down themselves, others light up faces by singing “Deck the Halls” door to door; every family has their own traditions.

Plates piled high with a fishy feast, Dylan DeMarco ’24 said he always looks forward to his family’s feast of the seven fishes. Although his family and he are traveling this year, DeMarco said they hope to take the Christmas Eve tradition with them.

“For Christmas, (my family) makes seven different seafood dishes,” DeMarco said. “This year, I don’t know what we are doing yet since we will be in Aruba, so it will probably be postponed until New Year’s Eve when we are visiting family in Buffalo.”

DeMarco said the traditional Italian custom is his favorite Christmas tradition because he has the opportunity to enjoy his favorite protein: octopus.

“(Octopus) is delicious,” DeMarco said. “I like grilled octopus because it’s the healthiest protein on earth. It’s just the best food ever; I try to make it every year for this (tradition).”

A quick grab-and-go, Christmas dinner looks a little different at Vivian Rizer’s ’24 household. Since her dad is a priest, Rizer’s Christmas revolves around church services, with food coming second.

“We don’t really get to have a big Christmas Eve dinner, like a lot of other families have,” Rizer said. “Our Christmas Eve is pretty condensed into you eat quick and you go to church or you eat quickly after church and go to sleep.”

A favorite in a Rizer family Christmas is stockings, but not the type stuffed with presents.

“My favorite Christmas memory takes place when I was in middle school,” Rizer said. “As a gift for one of my brothers, I bought him mismatched socks. To this day, he has mismatched socks every Christmas.”

On Christmas day, Nadeem Harauni ’27’s favorite tradition similarly involves stockings and presents. After a long dinner at his grandparent’s house the previous evening, Harauni said he appreciates nothing more than the effort put into the gifts he opens in the morning.

“There’s a lot of commitment involved in wrapping all those presents from my parents and siblings, so opening the gifts from (them) is a really nice feeling,” Harauni said.

Roughing the frigid winter weather, Harauni said his family also loves going outside to toss around the pigskin for Christmas.

“Me, my dad, my brother, my uncles and cousins run around and play football, which is very fun,” Harauni said.