By: Courtney Stull [Staff Writer] @itscourtney16

As nights get longer, students tend to find themselves cramming school, homework, shopping and activities into the short hours of daylight. Morgan Swanger, freshman, is one of these students.

Morgan Swanger describes her average schedule during the Christmas break, “I go shopping to buy gifts for my friends and family. I usually get one to two gifts for friends and we play Secret Santa, where everyone has to guess who gave them their gift. For my parents I get gift cards. I buy the gift cards with my allowance; it’s basically my parents buying their own presents!” Swanger said chuckling. On the flip side, her parents get Swanger volleyball apparel and accessories, “Besides the other items I put on my wishlist, a couple of them being gift cards and money, I like to ask for volleyball things, since i’m in club volleyball, which is also during the winter,” Swanger explained.

Besides getting and receiving gifts, Swanger enjoys going tubing and sledding, “I think tubing is amazing, I go every year. Skiing is a different story, I can say I tried it, but I failed.  It’s all about balance, and I can never keep my balance,” Swanger explained. Morgan enjoys activities in snow, and she just loves snow in general, “I like snow, until it turns to slosh. It’s disgusting, murky and messy,” Swanger commented.

Another thing Morgan does to stay busy is to go black friday shopping, “The best part isn’t necessarily about just the shopping and the stress of trying to get what you want, it’s about the rush of everyone frantically running around and I think it’s exhilarating,” Swanger said. Although larger cities can be scary to go black friday shopping in, smaller cities are more toned down and not as scary. “Besides shopping for our family, we got to the store to get canned foods then donate them to shelters for families for need.”

For Morgan, the holidays aren’t just about gifts, they include a bunch of activities that make up the things most important to her and her family.