December?s vacation is over and some of the class of ?06 is getting over a little holiday nostalgia. The realization that there is a thin line between the desire for independence and missing out on childhood traditions still lingers.

?After I graduate, I?m going to miss my mom?s baking the most,? Mikey Wills, ?06, said. ?My favorite kind of cookie she makes are her Christmas-tree shaped sugar cookies because she always puts a red-hot on the top where the star goes.?

Not all students practice the same holiday traditions but the uniqueness of each family and their time together is what makes it special.

?I love Christmas time because it always means tamales,? Krizia Tovar, ?06, said. Over the vacation all the women in my family come over and we make tamales all night long.?

Having family around is important to more than just the students; it is also very important to their parents. Most of them did not realize how much would change until after their sons or daughters went off to college.

?Because holidays are for spending time with family, it was difficult to adjust when a child moved away to college,? Molly Sargent, women?s counselor, said. ?Since they planned on coming home for holidays, however, I expected it to be the same as it always was. But in reality, it had a detached feeling on both sides.?

Even graduates share the same feelings about growing up and leaving home.

?After graduation I could not wait to move out and leave home,? Jordan Griffin, ?04, said. ?When the holidays rolled around though, I realized that everything was going to be different from now on. It made me appreciate time with my family a lot more.?

There are also some students who prefer to think that nothing will every change, and that living at home forever does not sound so bad.

?I don?t want to leave home right away because I?m happy with free room and board,? Derek George, ?06, said. ?Even when I do finally leave home, no traditions will be different because I don?t usually help with them anyway.?