December break is far too short at Lexington High School. While LHS only gets a week of break, neighboring schools enjoy nearly two full weeks off of school. Not to mention, it is followed by what I believe to be one of the most miserable months of the year, where all I do is count the days until February break. A short December break inconveniences students for several reasons.

Primarily, LHS is a diverse school, and many students have family overseas. My family lives in Sweden and can’t afford to visit the United States. The only time I can visit them is over the summer when they can take time off from work in order to be able to be with us. Although being able to visit family once a year is pretty often, it is unfortunate that it always has to be during the summer. Many holidays surrounding winter break such as Christmas, Hanukkah, or in my experience, Yule, are centered around family, and it’s sad to have to celebrate it with a small household.

In addition to spending time with family, vacations are supposed to be relaxing. In my experience, one week really isn’t enough to get a full break. I don’t usually feel well-rested until around the end of winter break, and by that time school is only a few days away. 

However, adding a few days to December break would mean that we’d have to add days to the end of school, which most people don’t want. This begs the question of whether having fewer, longer breaks is better than more spaced-out and shorter breaks. To me, fewer but longer breaks are more helpful because they allow you to have a longer period of relaxation and fully feel like you are on vacation, even if you are just staying at home. Meanwhile, with shorter, spaced-out breaks, there isn’t really time for the stress to fade away before school starts again. In my experience and what I have heard from other students at LHS, December break is just too short.