Magical Moments at East Side’s Family Holiday Party
By Lyla Cheary
East Side Community High School’s holiday party on December 14 with almost 150 people began with a fierce battle for who could put the most pom poms, glitter, tinsel, and bows on a once-white t-shirt for the ugly Christmas t-shirt contest. The room was full with food, board games, dreidel, raffles, and dancing.
The room was ornamented with fairy lights and festive tablecloths. The decor made the ambiance light, festive, and cheery, reflecting the nature of the people within it, including Santa Claus himself!
However, if a valiant fight to make the ugliest t-shirt possible wasn't your thing, the Parent Association and NHS volunteers put out chess, Connect Four, and an assortment of delicious food to fuel everyone's energy for the abundance of activities.
Besides food and games, people also had the opportunity to “shop” East Side’s clothing swap, purchase East Side gear, and contribute to a few of East Side's senior trips by purchasing jewelry or other exciting items.
However, we did have an unfortunate incident where someone got stuck in a bamboo finger trap and was unable to escape for several minutes. Miraculously, he made it out OK! Right after, however, we had a pool of young Hanukkah gelt stealers attempt to take handfuls of chocolates without even playing dreidel! The stealing put a smile on the gelt thieves' faces, and they ended up being allowed to take some loot anyway. The joys of dreidel (or stealing, whatever you want to call it).
The highlight of the night for Parent Coordinator Letty Minier was how the party “brought together families, students, and staff to celebrate the holiday season and our community. [There was] tons of joy, activities, laughs, food, bakeoffs, clothing swap, holiday pictures, raffles, dancing, but most of all appreciation. We are so grateful to our Parent Association and Beacon for always making it possible and to our entire community for participating. One of my favorite holiday activities.”
Near the end of the night, Principal Mark Federman mysteriously disappeared, and Santa Claus graciously made an appearance here at East Side, giving us a hearty “Ho, Ho, Ho!” to prove it was really him. Old Saint Nick witnessed the announcement of raffle winners, dreidel players eating their winnings of gelt, and most importantly, the announcement of the baking contest winners. Congratulations to Craig Harwood for winning the first-place prize for the amazing chocolate chip cookies!
To close off the night, East Side's beloved staff twirled and danced around the center of the room with smiles stretched across their faces. They laughed and talked as East Side students and families watched and cheered them along. Saint Nick cheerily departed to his workshop in the North Pole with the faint sound of jingle bells behind him. Although we certainly missed him during the dancing, the night came to a hearty, happy close, and the feelings of holiday cheer still linger with those of us who came.
A big thanks to the PA and the NHS volunteers for making this event possible and for a wonderful time!