Creating Christmas traditions enriches the season

Horizons

Monday, 24 December 2012 14:59

Traditions are a big part of what makes Christmas special for many people, and I’m no exception. For my family, Christmas traditions range all the way from watching “Elf” (the best Christmas movie ever) and putting up the tree, to buying a shirt for my uncles on my mom’s side of the family.

I love all of my Christmas traditions, but one of my favorites is Christmas Eve night.

We spend Christmas Eve morning and afternoon wrapping last-minute gifts, watching classic Christmas movies and mostly waiting for the night’s festivities.

Since I was in middle school, my family has had a Christmas Eve pajamas tradition. My sister and I each are allowed to open one specific present, which contains a pair of Christmas pajamas. We then...

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It’s true: High school years really do fly by

Horizons

Tuesday, 27 November 2012 14:40

This is the fourth month I’ve written this column, and every month I contemplated writing about this crazy thing called “senior year.” And every month I managed to avoid it.

But, as I sit here in my cozy “writing corner” and listen as Michael Buble’s smooth voice calms my thoughts, I guess it may be time to finally put my senior hopes and fears on paper.

I’ll start at the beginning: freshman year. I’m not sure if this is normal, but I remember my first day of high school like it was yesterday.

My friends and I met before school and walked through the front doors of Hillsboro High School together as students there for the very first time (typical freshman move, I know).

At that time, Taylor Swift had recently released...

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Trying something new can be good

Horizons

Tuesday, 30 October 2012 14:26

Four years ago, if someone would have told me that I would be playing tennis my junior and senior year of high school, I would have laughed and said,“No way!” Back then, I was sure that nothing could keep me from playing volleyball. But I was wrong.

Rewind to the beginning of my sports career. I grew up watching my cousins play volleyball; so naturally, I decided to join the middle school team in seventh grade.

For the first game, I got to start on seventh grade varsity. I was ecstatic. I’m not very athletically gifted, so this was an amazing opportunity for me. Unfortunately, I came down with a nasty cold on game day. I still played, but my head was so congested I could barely function. After that game I was placed on the C team...

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Choosing a college has this senior freaking out

Horizons

Tuesday, 25 September 2012 14:06

I’ve been sitting here for 45 minutes just staring at a blank Word document.

“Come on, Bailey,” I keep telling myself. “English is your first language, try to write it coherently.”

The problem isn’t that I can’t come up with anything to write about. There are about a million different thoughts colliding in my mind right now. I just can’t seem to put them on paper. It’s almost like I’m thinking so hard, I can’t think at all, if that makes any sense.

One might ask, “Why is calm, cool and collected Bailey so flustered right now?”

First, anyone who knows me at all is laughing because I am definitely not calm, cool or collected. For proof, just be in the car with me when I have to park in a busy parking lot. My...

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