As senior Maylynn Casas walked down the Sunny Hills hallways in December, with iconic holiday music blasting in her headphones, she recalls looking upon a dull, gray scenery — one with little color and joy. 

“It’s like the world is turning gray,” Casas said. “It’s so sad because I think holidays are a major part of children’s core memories as they grow up, like decorating ornaments and receiving gifts, but that’s really rare now because the streets lack color.” 

The senior said she experienced this emptiness over the past few years at school, and it impacted her personally, as she always spent her holidays with festivity. 

“Christmas has always been colorful for me,” she said. “We put up our tree in time for Thanksgiving and put up homemade ornaments and wrap the tree in red lights, but I get disappointed when I walk around the school or streets in general, and there’s nothing outside.

“We’re losing our core memories, and that’s sad to think about.” 

Her observation remained true for other students on the SH campus — many noticed a decline in the holiday spirit. And because of the rising costs from inflation, people are spending less for the season each year, contributing to the lack of enthusiasm.

A NOT-SO-HOLLY-JOLLY ECONOMY 

According to an Oct. 15 Deloitte article, statistics showed that customers this year plan to spend an average of $1,595 this season, a 10% decrease from the previous year. To maximize their budgets, many plan to cut spending on non-gift purchases, such as on hosting, clothing and decorations, which have shown a 22% decline since  year. 

Additionally, 28% of Americans are slimming their decorating budgets and 26% are spending less on gifts compared to last year, according to a Nov. 13 Business Wire article. Some of the most common reasons behind this decline were having enough decorations (42% of respondents), not hosting holiday celebrations (19%) and feeling less festive this year (17%). 

Though he agrees with the statistics, Aaron Popp, an economics professor at California State University, Fullerton, said he points to tariffs and imports. 

“Most Christmas decorations are imported since they are cheaper to manufacture in other countries, so trade data can help track holiday spending,” Popp said. “The U.S. was the largest market for Christmas decorations; since tariffs and recent high inflation have increased the prices of Christmas decorations and gifts, people may want to do something else with their money instead, such as travel and spend money on experiences rather than decorations.” 

On the other hand, Advanced Placement Macroeconomics teacher Kelsie Castro said she believes time is a greater factor than price. 

“I think it’s more about the intentionality,” Castro said. “Yes, prices are going up, but I think people can always buy from cheaper brands or go thrifting, but people are too busy to actually celebrate; for me as well, I changed classrooms this year, and I’m busy adjusting, and students are busy studying.” 

Senior Rhea Ji agreed with Castro. 

“Time plays a huge role for me because I genuinely don’t have time to play these days because of school and college,” Ji said. “I think the timing is just off at our school with finals week, so we don’t really have that kind of festivity, but this year Christmas is pretty late in the break, so I think it’ll be better.” 

LET’S “NOT” RAISE A TOAST TO THE HOLIDAYS 

Social science teacher Greg Abbott said he hasn’t noticed much difference, but he thinks other reasons may play a role. 

“I actually don’t know much about the spirit, but I do think our finals week may make it seem like our campus doesn’t have much spirit,” Abbott said. “Students are so stressed and busy studying that they’re pushing back celebrating Christmas.” 

Sophomore Dylan Wang said that age also became a reason he wanted to celebrate more.

“As we grow older, we celebrate less, but I think we should still keep high school as a time where we can normalize having fun because the spirit will continue to decrease in later years,” Wang said. 

Senior Jacob Michaels said he felt similar to Wang. 

“I feel like as we grow older, we get so busy with our own lives that we forget about the entire holidays and fun,” Michaels said. “For me, I’m stressed out over college applications and what I’m going to do with my life, that these days mean nothing to me now.” 

Senior Manveer Anand had a different reason for not celebrating: his cultural background. 

“For me, I don’t celebrate [Christmas] because it’s always been a time of sorrow and sadness,” Anand said. “As a Sikh-American, I’ve celebrated the martyrdom of our gurus and their children; as I do have appreciation for other religions and Christmas time, I believe the growing diversity in this country has been prevalent in the drop of total participation. 

“More people are also not forced to celebrate Christmas just to ‘fit in’ as I felt the pressure as a child.”

Other students pointed to their religious beliefs, too.

“I love Christmas, and this time means a lot of me because I’m Catholic,” junior Oliver Kim said. “It’s more than just the trees and Santa for me, but my religion itself.” 

WISHLIST: BRING BACK THE COLOR

Despite the various reasons why people don’t celebrate the season, some students still want to bring back the old times.

“I still want to walk our school hallways to be filled coziness of the holidays I felt as a child,” Casas said. “Decorations are very dear to me because it makes our lives so much more livelier.” 

Associated Student Body pep commissioner junior Relena Capulong said this lack of seasonal spirit influenced her to suggest a new idea: decorations. To put her plan in action, she initiated creating Halloween-themed homecoming posters throughout the hallways during October and November to increase spirit. 

“I wanted us to have more fun overall,” Capulong said. “I think the class-specific posters helped everyone get involved somehow in some way, and if you see those decorations in the hallways, it’s fun and interesting.” 

The pep commissioner said she hopes to plan something similar for the upcoming holidays and the winter assembly, an action that may work to revive SH students’ holiday cheer. 

“I hope we can bring back the warmth of a festive holiday at school,” she said. “We’re preparing more events, and I’m sure a lot of people will appreciate it.”