Holiday Travel Traditions

It’s the most wonderful time of the year. 

Classes are ending

And teachers are mending

their spirits and rethinking their careeeeeers… 

(record scratch)

Seriously, though, Winter Break provides a welcome respite from school for both teachers and students, alike.  Our staff here at Wredling is no exception as teachers look forward to a holiday filled with family, fun, frolicking, and food… not necessarily in that order. 

Many members of Wredling’s faculty use Winter Break as an opportunity to travel across the nation.  Math teacher, Mr. Wollak, drives his large family to the East Coast. He says that the car trip should take about 16 hours, but frequent bathroom stops for the kids tacks on another 7 hours. His kids hate the car ride and often throw up, but they love stopping at a hotel along the way. One year, his whole family stayed up really late at the hotel watching “America’s Funniest Home Videos.”  Mr Wollak states, “I’ll always remember how hard everyone laughed that night.  It was the first time my younger children saw the show and couldn’t believe the ridiculous injuries people endured.  It was a night filled with, ‘Ohhh!  What was he thinking?  Ow!  Who are these people?’”  Making brand-new memories such as these is a big motivation for holiday travel.

Math teacher, Mrs. Roskos, travels to see family, as well.  She explains, “Every year, my family gets together in Michigan. My mom has five brothers and sisters, so we all get together and so do all the nieces and nephews. There’s probably anywhere from 25 to 30 people there, so we all gather in one house, and there are a lot of generations. This year we have three new babies which is really fun to see!”

Other teachers, like ELA instructor Mrs. Breon, travel within the state to recreate fond moments from past holidays. She says, “My daughter, sister, and I always go into Chicago to spend a girl’s day together during break. We take the train into the city, walk to Pittsfield cafe to eat breakfast, and then go shopping. We always go to Macy’s to look at the big Christmas tree in the Walnut room.”  The ladies go shopping afterward and end their night eating at a restaurant called The Italian Village before they take the train back home.  Mrs. Breon also travels locally to fulfill some holiday traditions with her family, like taking in a double feature at the Music Box Theater. 

PE teacher Mr. Masoncup also travels to the big city for a mini-holiday trip. “We head to the Kris Kringle Mart in Chicago every year and see a musical downtown that same day,” he says. Besides traveling to the city during the break, Mrs. Breon and Mr. Masoncup also share a traditional local trip with their respective families to volunteer at Feed My Starving Children in order to give back to the community during the season.

Whether they are traveling over the river and through the woods to a destination farther from home, or they believe there’s no place like home for the holidays, Wredling teachers’ holiday excursions make Winter Break the most wonderful time of the year.