It’s beginning to look a lot like ... winter break

Written by Curren Iyer
Thursday, 22 December 2011 01:00

It all started on Black Friday.

Getting into the car, hours after most of those “door-busting deals” have finished, I sit down and turn on the radio. Bing Crosby’s voice fills the vehicle, singing, “It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas.” Yep, it’s that time of year again, folks. The holidays are coming, and you can see it all around: wreaths on doors, Christmas trees put up, the usual shebang.

It’s not just looking like Christmas, though, but also sounding like it, too!

Sure, everybody knows about the usual Christmas tradition of caroling. At Brunswick we carry out this tradition, but with a slight twist. Every year, the school, led by the Classics Department, holds a carol service at the nearby Christ Church of Greenwich, in Latin. It’s a very unique event, from the solemn procession of students and teachers at the beginning and end, to seeing your classmates walk up to the pulpit and recite passages in Latin, Greek and Hebrew. All guests who come to the service get their own copies of the recitations, so they may participate in the festivities as well. It’s always interesting to see some of the parents trying their hand not only at deciphering Latin, but at singing, too.

Besides music, there are other ways we know that it’s almost time for the holidays. For one thing, at school everybody is eager for the long awaited winter break (despite the recent Thanksgiving break), whether to go off on vacation or to just stay at home and enjoy the snow — that is, if any falls this time around. I hope that unusual “October” blizzard won’t be the last snowfall we see this year.

And finally, there’s always the new year to look forward to when we get back, although I’m sure that most of us will be too busy enjoying the vacation until the night before school starts again, when exams loom ever closer. It’s a good time to reflect on the past year and look forward to fun times ahead — like the rest of junior year, and the final challenge: the springtime, with the SAT and AP exams.

All in all, it’s no t what holiday we celebrate during this time (if any), but that we all spend time enjoying whatever we do, in the company of our family and friends.

Happy holidays, everyone!

Curren Iyer is a junior from Greenwich at Brunswick School.

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