As December begins, the holiday season takes off. No matter what you celebrate, the close of the year is jam packed with activity!

Each year, Stimson Middle School hosts Winter Wonderland the week before Thanksgiving. Winter Wonderland is an event celebrating the winter season and all it brings, with an ice skating rink, amusement park camel, crafts, snow machines, petting zoos, and the lighting of a Christmas tree and a menorah.

In preparation, Stimson asks National Art Honor Society (NAHS) members to deck the halls of Stimson with student art as well as panel paintings of their own. Aurelia Turano, Whitman senior and co-secretary of NAHS, said that she “loves how it brings everyone together” and “brings some holiday cheer” to the often “dreary” middle school halls.

As an NAHS member, the work is a labor of love. We spend two days cramming as much decorating as humanly possible. Throughout the two prep days, we paint, and we paint, and we paint, and even then it doesn’t feel like it’ll be enough. Yet despite our anxieties, all of this preparation lets the main event shine.

This year was a huge success. I popped by during the event to see a packed forum with kids jostling each other in line for the petting zoo and racing around the ice rink. By the end, there was art on the ground, streamers criss crossed across the floor, exhausted attendees, and smiles all around. Stop by next year for heartwarming family fun!