We are on the verge of that frostbite-acquiring, weight-gaining, blood pressure-rising holiday we call Christmas. Everyone knows that Jewish and Muslim individuals do not celebrate Christmas for religious reasons. But consider this, anyone can shift their priorities and cut back on the excess festivities that come avalanche at innocent families this season. Several friends of mine have stripped their leafy Christmas tree traditions to bare branches so they can order takeout on the 25th. Although Christmas provides warm fuzzy feeling of unity and good cheer, the outcome isn’t worth the fact that you have to get run over by the Polar Express repeatedly until perfection is within reach. If you think this mental rupture is mandatory for a happy holiday, you sit on a throne of lies my friend. Do you remember that fight you had with your siblings this Thanksgiving? Babysitting your little cousin as he shoved eleven cookies into your grandma’s dinosaur VCR? How about your uncle questioning your relationship status? Your aunt asking about college? Are you ready for round two? Of course you aren’t. Families are supposed to spend cozy mornings together and make memories on Christmas, not undergo nagging from your distant relatives. They should be cut out of the picture. After all, they’re not in the family Christmas card for a reason. Speaking of, those are not necessary either. A 99 cent card from Walmart with some words from the heart will do just fine. Besides, wrangling everyone up for a photo nobody wants to take, with just a simple “Happy Holidays from our far from perfect family” on the side doesn’t do the justice of the original joy, peace, love Christmas theme. Writing a thoughtful card will take a quarter of the time and money a family picture would take. Obviously, the most stressful practice of this overemphasized holiday is the gift giving. Here is your new rule to that: Do not give until you have received. There is really no need to give to people who will not give a single thought to give you something back. Those people don’t care, and don’t deserve. Of course due to this holiday being the season of giving, give to those you care about, and also those cookie cutter friends who thought to give you those little holiday treats on the last day of school before break. No need for anything extravagant, just something that fits in the elves’ food group of candy, candy canes, candy corn, and syrup. Don’t get me started with the Christmas lights. It is nice to see the extravagant lights your neighbors have put up, but imagine their electricity bill. May as well make a noose out of that string of lights. If you’re really dying to get on that ladder and string up those lights, do it for the sake of holiday cheer, no need to show off brightly then give your father a heart attack when the bill comes around. Now that we’re grown teenagers with jobs, we can’t use that excuse when buying presents for parents and siblings. Nonetheless they do deserve something for putting up with you all year. Thankfully there are a ton of cheap gift ideas scattered throughout the internet. Chances are, you will be lassoed by an irritating female relative to help out in the kitchen to make some extravagant dinner that is served the day before Christmas. This isn’t Christmas, this is just your mother showing Aunt Debra who’s the Betty Crocker of the family. Some people even have two Christmas dinners. Instead, an ideal Christmas meal could simply be pancakes and bacon in the morning. Otherwise, there’s always takeout. It’s that simple. If your family does not listen to the bright ideas listed above, I have a wonderful gift idea: A copy of Knightlife opened up to the opinion page with this article circled in bright red marker. Just to inspire them to celebrate a more reasonable, cheerful holiday next year. So don’t be vulnerable this Christmas; instead take it for what it’s supposed to be. Have fun with your family and friends this holiday season without the stress and urge to transform into a Mr. Scrooge.

If you ask most students about the protest on November 14th, they’ll probably reply “What protest?” In the wake of Donald Trump’s election announcement, high schools all around the United States felt sparks of unrest. Southern California schools, especially those in Los Angeles Unified School District, took action  showing their dissent with the election’s results. The demonstration, reminiscent of the failed Senior Project Protest a few years back, didn’t exactly go according to plan. November 14th’s buzz of rumors and teacher precautions had the potential to become a full-fledged walkout. However, a crucial element was missing: There was no spread of information among students, no way to reach those who may have wanted to join. The only ones talking about the protest at all were administrators and teachers, the ones trying to prevent it from happening. If you had known a protest was happening, would you have left your classroom and joined in? I did, and the experience was thoroughly disheartening. On November 14th, I first heard word of the walkout from my zero period teacher. “We’re all gonna be good students today, right?” the teacher said near the end of class. “We’re gonna stay at school all day today?” Immediately I told my friends, asking whether anyone had any information to supplement the vague rumors. No one knew a thing. I continued my search for credible information, or any sort of plan, until second period. There, I received the first straightforward answer of the day. Apparently, there were rumors of a walkout all across the district, to be held at 9:15am. My second period teacher talked openly with us about the issue. We were told that it was our right to stand for what we believe in. The teacher, however, did not want the class interrupted by students leaving, so all who wanted to participate would have to leave before the class started its daily agenda. Students who left to join the demonstration would be marked absent. I was the only one to stand and leave. Out in the quad, 9:15 quietly slipped by, without any trace of unusual behavior, much less a surge of student protesters. Standing alone near the 100 building, I spotted Dr. Williams and approached him for comment. When asked about the legality of such student action, he conceded that it was, technically, perfectly legal. We have the right to peacefully protest. The only issue is that if a group were to leave campus, Dr. Williams would be obligated to follow. And, of course, everyone who participates in a demonstration during class time would be cutting class. Would it have been worthwhile? What might it have accomplished? We may never know. All we can be sure of is that Foothill’s students have pursuits other than protesting. Attachments area