DECEMBER HITCHING POST

The Hitching Post

A Park View Middle School Publication
December 2018
Volume I, Issue 2

Welcome to the the holiday edition of our school's newspaper! Like any "newspaper" format, feel free to browse through the pages and select an article that catches your eye. You will notice some of the articles now contain audio and video that will enhance your reading experience. Happy Holidays!

If you would like to submit an article for the next edition in December, please see Ms. Kelly in Room 25 for specific details. All submissions are appreciated and the best written, most original articles will be published!

Inside this edition:
1. Christmas Gifts
2. Midnight Magic
3. Christmas Traditions and Music
4. Holiday Sports teams
5. This Season's Charities and Fundraisers

Christmas Morning!

Maddy W.

It's December 24th, 11:59 p.m at night. One more minute till Christmas, the holiday you have been waiting for as soon as it turned November first. You've just finished ten Christmas movies and two cups of hot chocolate. You're wearing fuzzy socks, grey sweatpants, and an ugly comfy sweater.

Five more seconds till Christmas! You run out of your room, bolting to where your Christmas tree is to see if your presents magically appear. But sadly, nothing is there....yet! Maybe there was a mistake? You rush to your kitchen table to see if the cookies are gone, you check outside if the carrots are still there, and you check the fireplace to see if Santa left behind any materials. You just think Santa needs time to make his way to your house while stopping at others.

On your way back to your room, you snag a candy cane off the tree hopping back in your bed. After finishing your candy cane, it's hard to fall asleep, you viciously shake your parents and tell them the awful news. They tell you the same thing you had thought, "Santa needs time to get around to everybody." Agreeing and now exhausted, you finally fall asleep.

Waking up on Christmas morning was quite easy, considering you stayed up late, you still woke up earlier than a school day. You dash to your tree and find mountains of presents, your jaw drops. Running so fast you almost trip over yourself multiple times, you wake your sibling up, then run down the hall yelling, "Santa came!" You excitedly invite yourself in to your parent's room trying to flip their bed so they would get up.

Going back and forth between your parent's room and the living room, you glance at the table noticing Santa left a letter. Your eight-year-old self can't read cursive yet, so you jump over the couch "patiently" waiting for your parents to make their coffee, get the camera, let the dog out... It's now finally time to open the presents.

Scrooge The Musical

Stacie G.

Are you planning on a memorable night filled with comedy, laughter, and the Christmas spirit? Well in that case, come see Scrooge the Musical! This production is put together by the Village Players and the Gracenotes Orchestra performs live during the show. From the acting to the singing and dancing, a magnificent performance is guaranteed! Scrooge will be performed in the brand new Greenwald Performing Arts Center at Mukwonago High School on December 7th, 8th, 9th, 14th, 15th, and 16th. The Village Players are honored to be the first to perform a musical inside the new and improved PAC. Buy your tickets now and get extra information at https://mukwonagovillageplayers.org/.

Listen to one of the chorus numbers from our show's dress rehearsal.

Six Christmas Activities

Julia H.

1. Christmas light tour
There's definitely a Clark Griswold in your neck of the woods! Take a car ride around town and see what there is to see. Find the best house that's all decked out. Put on some Christmas Music and have fun!

4. Christmas Cookies
Sugar cookies! Gingerbread men! Spritz cookies! There are to many good holiday cookies to make. You can have a "cookie day" and make a bunch of cookies. Have fun with it!

2. Wreath Making
Everyone would love a festive wreath! Take a walk and collect pine branches and pine cones. Put them all together. Decorate with ornaments and bows.

3. Christmas Movies
Watching Christmas movies is a must! Have everyone choose their favorite movie and have a marathon. Make some Hot chocolate while watching The Polar Express or make the crazy pasta in Elf.

5. Hot Chocolate Buffet
There's nothing like a steaming cup of hot chocolate on a cold December night. Have a table full of toppings like whipped cream, crushed candy canes, and chocolate chips. Get creative!

Listen to some Christmas tunes while reading!

6. Christmas Festivals
Why not check out some local festivals? From tree lighting ceremonies in the town square to ugly sweater parties, there's bound to be something happening in your area.

Holiday Interviews

Jade P.

7th Grade
Wishes

Featuring Maddy's Holiday Bucket list!

Featuring Park View Staff

Video Credits Maddy W.

Top 5 Christmas Cookies of the Year

Brooke R.

Every year Christmas isn't complete without traditional Christmas Cookies! This year treat your family to something sweet such as homemade gingerbread cookies or holiday cutout cookies.

1: Triple-Chocolate Peppermint Treats
These cookies are simple and sweet, and it won't take long until they are all gone!

4: Gingerbread Man Cookies
No Holiday plate would be complete without gingerbread bread cookies!

2: Holiday Cutout Cookies
The only limit on these cookies is your cookie cutter collection and your imagination! This cookie is also great to do with friends and family.

5: Fruitcake Christmas Cookies
These rich-fruit and nut filled cookies make a wonderful Christmas gift. They are super easy to bake up.

3: German Christmas Cookies
Inside this little spice cookie, it tastes very European and is very similar to pepper nut.

Watch this video to see the favorite Christmas cookies at Park View!

The Busiest Time of the Year

Ellie K.

Around this time of the year, shopping is a major event for many people. Black Friday and Cyber Monday are days dedicated for shopping. People start storming their favorite stores for deals and sales or choose to shop online in the comfort of their own home. This year it was estimated that the average shopper would spend about a total of $1,007.24, and all together that would add up to about $717.5 billion total sales. Yet, how did Black Friday become a seasonal tradition, and how has it changed?

Black Friday didn't always have a name, but the day after Thanksgiving was always the unofficial beginning of the Christmas shopping season. In 1941, a law was passed that made the fourth Thursday of November the official date of Thanksgiving. People then started calling in sick to work the day after Thanksgiving to get a head start on their holiday shopping. Later in 1966, Black Friday became famous in terms of ads and newspapers. So, the day after Thanksgiving was added as a holiday for many businesses and schools. Today, people have an option of shopping in stores or online. Deals and sales can also be better online than in stores, so people shop from home in their comfy pajamas with online deals.

Christmas
Around the World

Lauren J.

Every year, more than 160 countries celebrate Christmas. Even though all countries celebrate differently, we are all still celebrating the same holiday: Christmas.

Celebrating Christmas in India can be difficult due to the lack of pine trees. Instead of decking an evergreen with lights and ornaments, Indians instead use mango or banana trees as a substitute. In the Philippines children do not hang up stockings, instead, they clean their shoes and place them on the window sills to be filled with goodies. They also do not believe that St. Nicholas fills their shoes. They believe that the three kings walk to each house and stuff their shoes with treats.

In Europe, many countries have similar celebrations as America, but they do a few things differently. In the United Kingdom no one puts out milk and cookies for Santa's late night snack. As a substitute, families make a Christmas pudding for Santa. In Greece, they believe that kallikantzeri, or goblins, will come and make mischief during the twelve days of Christmas. They also wait to open their gifts until the first day of January, or St. Basil's Day. In France, families will burn a log in their fireplaces starting on Christmas Eve and continue burning it until New Year's Day. They believe that this will bring them good luck in the new year.

"Stille Nact"
A traditional Christmas Song
Silent Night

Even though all countries celebrate differently, Christmas still has the same meaning. It's about coming together and celebrating a world-wide holiday.

Decoration Decisions

Courtney R.

How early people should set up Christmas decorations has been a long debate, and with such different opinions, how can you answer? Some people leave their Christmas decorations up all year, others put them up a few days before Christmas. The less extreme include putting the tree up the day after Thanksgiving, or on the first day of December.

Most people agree that you shouldn't have a Christmas tree before Thanksgiving, so you can focus more on turkey dinners and being thankful. Artificial trees usually go up in December. A good time for real trees would be about mid December, so they don't lose all their needles before Christmas. Most people take down their Christmas trees right after New Years.

Outside decorations can be different, most people set them up some time after Thanksgiving, but you shouldn't let it wait so long that you're trying to set up lights while walking through a foot of snow. You should watch the weather to make sure you set up decorations without to much snow. Outside lights are typically turned on some time in December.

Top Christmas Presents For Teens

Valerie S.

With Christmas right around the corner, most of us need to get our shopping done soon! You may be out of ideas, so I'd like to inform you of the top presents on teens Christmas lists this year!

There are many presents that teens are asking for this year, but here are the most popular ones. First, teens have been asking like crazy for a Polaroid camera, more specifically the FujiFilm instant camera. This is a very fun gift and it is pretty affordable for a camera. Next on the list is the Amazon Echo, also known as "Alexa" who is a virtual assistant, she can play music, tell you the weather, tell jokes, and more. Additionally, a very popular gift most teens are asking for is a new phone or a phone case. Although a new phone is expensive, it's always exciting to get a new case! Most phone cases are cheap and easy to find. Another great gift would be a bluetooth speaker. I know that I love listening to music and so do many other people. Also water speakers are both popular and entertaining. Other gifts would be video games, bath fizzies, makeup, and sports equipment. Also many people have been asking for other devices like tablets and Macbooks.