For junior Calvin Burzynski, December is always filled with the stress of exams, but he survives with the knowledge that he can watch “A Nightmare Before Christmas” while eating cookies and drinking hot chocolate with his mom after his last test.
According to the Internet Movie Database, “A Nightmare Before Christmas” is an animated movie that follows the story of Jack Skellington, the king of Halloweentown. Jack is tired of the same annual Halloween celebrations and traditions. One day, he stumbles upon a neighboring town named Christmastown. In awe of the holiday, he decides that he wants to celebrate Christmas instead of Halloween. Jack and the citizens of Halloweentown try to put on Christmas, but they run into obstacles and have difficulty recreating its holiday cheer.
Burzynski explained that he came up with the idea for the tradition in ninth grade.
“I was really stressed with my first year of semester exams, and I wanted to come up with something to look forward to after my exams,” Burzynski explained.
From this idea, the tradition was born, and every year since, Burzynski and his mom have watched “A Nightmare Before Christmas” together after his last semester exam, he said. He added that his mom’s chocolate chip cookies and hot chocolate are some of the best parts of the tradition.
Burzynski said he and his mom like the movie because of its unique animation, and they enjoy that it focuses on more than one holiday.
“My mom and I love that the movie ties Halloween and Christmas together because we love both holidays,” he explained.
He said his favorite part of the tradition is not the cookies or even watching the movie, but spending quality time with his mom.
“This tradition is important to me because it brings me and my mom closer together after a busy December of not spending that much time together,” Burzynski explained.
