If there is one thing to look forward to during the winter time, it definitely is the holidays. Gift giving season.
For children, Christmas is the time when they usually receive their latest want. The newest action figure, the latest toy car or maybe even that cool video game that they have been mentioning all
year around.
Depending on a household’s Santa(s) and other circumstances, the older and more mature people get, the higher the chance that the types of gifts that they get usually switches. How drastic the change is the question.
Junior information science and technology major Zach Finley is one who enjoys when holiday season rolls around.
“My birthday is pretty close to Christmas day, so the month of December is a pretty good one for me,” Finley said.
Impressed with all of the gifts he has received throughout his lifetime, Finley does have a favorite.
“My favorite Christmas gift of all time would probably have to be when I got my Diamondback BMX bike,” Finley said. “It is a little small now, but at the time I really loved everything about it. The look, the performance, I loved it all. It is metallic bronze. I think I got it when I was 12.”
“When I was younger, most of the gifts I got were clothes and video games. It has not really changed that much because now I still get clothes for Christmas, but I get a lot more gift cards,” Finley said. “I’m cool with it. I appreciate and am grateful for both eras honestly. Anytime I receive a gift I’m thankful. It is something I did not have before.”
Senior biology with a concentration in pre-medicine major Brittany Pedrazzi still has her favorite Christmas gift up to today, as well.
“My favorite Christmas gift ever is my cat Angel. I got her when I was 8. It is my favorite because I remember asking my parents for a cat,” Pedrazzi said. “The fact that they really listened to me and went out and got one really flattered me. I still have her today. It is black, gray and white, she is loyal, follows me around and likes to lick. It is constantly licking my hair, or cleaning my dog. It is funny, but weird.”
“Growing up my grandparents would always give me clothes, my aunts and uncles would give me money, and my parents would get me things like shoes and video games,” Pedrazzi said. “I still get those same gifts today. I kind of like my gifts better now because I get more necessities now that I’m more independent. Those are more important to me right now than wants.”
Freshman criminology major Nomi Washington enjoys the holiday season because of the gifts and the time she gets to spend with family back home. “I got an electric guitar when I was younger, that was back when I played the guitar,” Washington said. “But that was my favorite gift, my parents got them for me. It was a deep blue, maybe semi- acoustic, I don’t really remember that well. I just know you can plug it into an amp, it was nice. I took guitar lessons for a little bit. My mom and dad gave them to me.”
“When I was younger, I was always getting toys and games. Stuff to play with, stuff you can keep for a long time and stay inside and use,” Washington said.
“Now I get more electronics. This year I got a Microsoft Surface Pro 4 and last year I got an iPhone 6. So stuff like that. I feel like I liked getting gifts more when I was younger. You got to sit and play, your parents would like to sit around watch you play too. Now it is like you get your gifts and then you are on your way,” Washington said.
All three students have noticed that Christmas 2015’s most popular gift is the hands-free segways that have hit the world hard. New York City has recently banned them to use only on private land with the the owner’s permission. Even Cabrini College banned them from campus.
“Those things (Segways) are going crazy. Alongside video games those are the two gifts I have seen the most this Christmas,” Finley said.
“A lot of kids and adults have that now. I think that is definitely the most popular this year,” Washington said.
