As snow starts to fall and lights are strung up around houses, people search in storage bins for stockings and Christmas countdowns. The transition from November to December can bring more holiday spirit than any other annual celebrations. But once kids grow into teenagers and teenagers grow into adults the Christmas spirit grows a different purpose.

“Besides counting down to Christmas, it is nice to have the spirit,” junior Shayla Lucas said. “It is a little weird to leave out milk and cookies if you know Santa is not real, but I still celebrate by going to my grandma’s and opening presents.”

Growing older can bring stress, and more responsibilities. This can make holiday spirit harder to achieve compared to younger aged believers. It can make believing harder but holiday spirit stronger overall.

“I think a good age to stop believing is 10 or 11,” sophomore Lucas Essenburg said. “We need to come to reality some day, and we should only believe in things like Santa and leaving milk in cookies when we are young. “Although if you’re not full of joy and the christmas spirit you can not get the best out of the holiday. It is not fun or exciting if you are not participating.”

Believing in Santa Claus, and leaving milk and cookies out is taught and practiced by children, but some things do not have the same age limits during the holiday’s.

“Even though Christmas isn’t just all about Santa and presents I think it’s important to believe because it’s a childhood memory that you will remember for the rest of your life,” sophomore Ava Stebbins. “Even though at my age I know that Santa is not real, I lay out cookies and milk for fun. I always have a Christmas countdown on my phone. I can’t tell someone what you should and should not believe but I believe that doing these things can help you get into the Christmas spirit.”

As believing ceases and aging continues helping others can be a job for anyone. Working with parents to teach younger siblings to believe can increase the spirit of any Christmas participant. Even if the holiday season is not all about believing in Santa, it can be about your personal happiness towards others.