Home away from home for the holidays

Some Chapman students who are unable to return to their hometowns will be spending the holiday break in Orange. Unsplash

The holidays are a time for families to bond around a table filled with decadent food and keep up their annual traditions. However, some students can’t go home for the holidays this year and instead will be joining their Californian friends for a holiday in the sun, where the snow is fake and winter is above 70 degrees. 

COVID-19 concerns, work obligations and political turmoil are among some of the reasons some Chapman students can’t return to their home towns and countries for winter break this year. Luckily, traditions surpass international boundaries and are able to be practiced anywhere, including right here in Orange.

Natalie Cartwright, a junior film production major, works at Disneyland, which is coincidentally already a merry and magical place to work at 364 days a year. But the one day she finds a little less magical to be at the "Happiest Place on Earth" is Christmas. 

Natalie Cartwright, a junior film production major who works at Disneyland, is unable to return home for the holiday season because of her job. Photo courtesy of Natalie Cartwright

“The average Disney guest, they want their day at Disney to be perfect, Cartwright said. “And I get it; (they) definitely paid a lot of money to be here. So, they can be a little bit mad if I can't get them a table. But on holidays, you're telling me the family of 20 that came that didn't make a reservation can't get their table and make their Christmas perfect? They want their regular day at Disney perfect, (but) they want their holiday at Disney to be more perfect.” 

Nevertheless, Cartwright said the show must go on and employees must be available to work throughout the holiday season. This makes it difficult for her to go to visit her hometown of Landaff, New Hampshire. 

As a native to the East Coast, Cartwright is used to seeing snowflakes fall outside the window on Christmas Eve as her family sits down for a Tex-Mex fiesta at her grandmother's house — a tradition that her parents brought to New Hampshire from their home state of Texas. The whole family gets decked out in pajamas as they munch on their tacos and open gifts.

“We go to my grandmother's house and we have our little Mexican fiesta and then we all open our gifts from our grandparents, and they open our gifts from us,” Cartwright said. 

Although Christmas is not as big of a deal in her family as Christmas Eve is, Cartwright is hoping to go to her friend's family's house in Orange to have Christmas dinner, as she did for Thanksgiving. She even is planning to put on a little Tex-Mex fiesta of her own to bring her traditions to the West Coast. 

Cartwright's mother already sent her all her presents, and Cartwright put them under her Christmas tree in her house in Orange to make her feel more at home during the holiday season.  

“It's different when you're home though cause, you know, this year I won't see snow and it won't be chilly and I won't see my actual tree,” Cartwright said

Gozhina told The Panther she cannot go home to Russia this year, because the U.S. Embassy is closed, and she would not be able to get another visa to return to the U.S. if she left for the holiday. 

In Russia, Gozhina explained, New Year’s Eve is a big holiday that the whole family gathers to celebrate. Christmas is observed Jan. 7, due to most people in Russia being Orthodox Christian. Since New Year's comes before Christmas in Russia, people pull out all the festivities Dec. 31 and don’t have any energy left for Christmas. 

Gozhina’s family will gather for a feast consisting of Olivier, a Russian salad made of  mayonnaise mixed with finely chopped potatoes, carrots, peas, meat and other vegetables. There are also traditional dishes that Gozhina does not mind missing out on such as jellied meat and fish or beet salad. 

However, Gozhina said she is still going to miss spending time with her family and soaking up the Moscow winter wonderland. 

“I haven't been home in two years," Gozhina said. "First because of COVID-19, and now because of this. So, I would rather go home because I obviously missed home and I kind of have been stuck here for a while. I miss traveling in general too. I don't like staying in one place for too long."

To try and make herself feel more at home, Gozhina is getting together with some other friends, who are also spending the holidays in Orange, and going to Big Bear for New Year’s. Gozhina said she’s hoping for snowfall, so the holidays feel a bit more like home, and she plans on cooking with her other Russian friends to get their fix of Russian salad for the year. 

“We're thinking about maybe getting an Airbnb there, making food for New Year's, skiing and staying there for a couple days,” Gozhina said.

Chistina Lvov, a junior business administration major, is also not going back home to Russia this year, but she has found several Russian friends at Chapman to share the holidays with — like Gozhina, who she bonded with during the pandemic. 

Lvov said one of her favorite New Year's traditions is writing a wish on a piece of paper, lighting it on fire, putting it in her glass of champagne and drinking the glass of bubbly — paper and all. 

“My mom and my brother would always say, ‘You need to actually chew the piece of paper,’ and I'm like, ‘No, that's disgusting,’” Lvov said. “And because I didn’t chew the piece of paper, my brother would always say my wish wouldn’t come true.”

Lvov is hoping to pop the champagne up in Big Bear with Gozhina and her other friends, although, part of her wishes she was going back to Russia to see her parents. She enjoys opening presents with her family on New Year's Eve and seeing how much her 14-year-old brother has grown each time she goes home. 

She said she’s still contemplating buying a last minute ticket and flying overseas to Russia, champagne and paper in hand. 

“I probably should go back home to celebrate with my family,” Lvov said. “I was excited to stay here, because everyone's saying how they are going to travel somewhere like to San Diego or NorCal. But now I'm rethinking it again. I still have time to buy a ticket to see my family.”

No matter if people are with or without their families this year, traditions can transcend borders and bring pieces of home from afar. These three holiday-lovers will be bringing a bit more Christmas joy to the West Coast with their culturally rich traditions this holiday season. 

“I'll probably go to (my friend’s) house on Christmas; I'll eat with her family and open gifts,” Cartwright said. “(But) I might try to talk my friend into doing a little Tex-Mex fiesta with her family.”