After winter break you might notice students decked out in the gifts that they received during the holiday season. This holiday season it is estimated that the United States of America spent about 1 trillion dollars on Christmas gifts. Though Christmas can seem overly commercialized and all about the gifts, not about the true Christmas holiday, gifts are one of the ways that people connect during the holiday season. Sometimes it’s that kids are getting something that they have been wanting throughout the year, and sometimes it’s a new gift that you didn’t realize that you wanted. These gifts can be meaningful in that they show how much your friends and family know you. This year many of these gifts have been similar or the same item that everyone has wanted. Despite them being similar, each of these gifts is personal to the person that is receiving it. The most popular gifts were apple products, shoes, clothes, food, and money. 

One example of frequent apple products received this year was AirPods. Some people received the newer version of them, but most were getting the originals. Sophie Draeger said, “ Since they’re a pretty expensive gift and hard to get in the middle of the year my parents just waited until Christmas to get it for me.”Less frequently, people received newer versions of their phones. Mostly apple phones since they are the most common type of smartphones. This includes people upgrading for a six

to a seven, a seven to an eight, or some people getting the iPhone ten. For those that were lucky enough to receive these new phones, they are being put to lots of use with their newer features and activities. Genevieve Bavisato who received an iPhone ten said, “I’ve been having a lot of fun with the Face ID feature on the phone, and the camera quality is a lot better than my last phone.”Another gift that has been very popular for the last couple of years is the Air Force One’s Shoes. Out of the ten people that I interviewed half of them had received this gift. Ilana Reed who received Air Force One’s for Hanukkah said, “I have been asking for them forever and I’m so happy to have gotten them. When they first came out they were sold out everywhere so that’s why it took me so long to get them.”. This was a popular theme with most of the gifts that were received.

And with the usual tradition of Christmas gifts a lot of grateful people were receiving clothes from brands like Nike, Brandy Melville, Urban outfitters, and Champion. Ilana Reed said, “I usually get clothes for Hanukkah, I think because it’s the easiest thing to find and my parents know the type of clothes that I want.” Food seemed like another gift that was frequent throughout the holiday season in the form of candy and other sugary items.

With all of these gifts, the most important thing is to remember to be grateful that we can receive these gifts and remember to stay in the true spirit of giving during the holidays.