Christmas is one of the most beloved times at Montrose, from getting to decorate the classrooms to making Christmas skits to present in front of the school on the final day before break and even, all-school Secret Santa. This year was no different – from the Secret Santa Cheat Sheet receiving a record number of responses (175 out of the 319 students and teachers, which is 54.8% of the Montrose community!!), to delivering 157 gifts over the course of Secret Santa Week (beating last year’s record of 80), and so much more.
The Christmas season at Montrose started with decorating the school. As a 6th grader, I got to decorate Room 4, our M Block room, as Santa’s workshop. While decorating, our whole class had such a wonderful time getting into the Christmas spirit. When we finally finished, we all got to step back and see the whole classroom. We had a conveyor belt with toys, wrapped and unwrapped presents, a nice and naughty list, and of course, our very own 6th grade elf. As the start of the Christmas season at Montrose, decorating Room 4 had us all excited for the other Christmas-related Montrose traditions to come.
Meanwhile, from a senior’s perspective, Christmas decorating is such an amazing experience every year. This year, as a senior, I got to decorate the tree in the front foyer. We also got to hand-make our own Christmas ornaments using clear bulbs, and we designed them with our favorite Montrose memories. Personally, I designed mine with LOTS of glitter, which included the tedious task of pouring clear glue, and lots of glitter into the ornament, and trying to swirl it around. It took a while and created a bit of a mess on both myself and all over the senior commons, but I LOVE how it came out. On the front of my ornament is one of my favorite pictures from the junior ring ceremony which pictures me alongside some of my close friends from the Montrose Class of 2026 (shoutout Gabriella Dansereau, Keira Hyatt, Maria Silveyra Dodds, Sorina Yeghian, Shaylagh Donovan, and Allie Knight).
Soon, Secret Santa Week rolled around. Being the mastermind behind the Secret Santa Cheat Sheet, I spent my weeks leading up to Secret Santa answering inquiries regarding Montrose students and teachers’ Secret Santas, and this was the week in which I got to see how my work played out, especially with my business, or as I liked to say, “my operation,” in which I’d help people to anonymously get their gift to their Secret Santa. On the first day, business started very quickly, and soon, I had more gifts than what I could fit in my mailing bag (better known as a red Athleta tote bag), so I was storing them everywhere I could, from inside my locker, to the top of the lockers, and even underneath tables in the senior commons. During class, I placed my overflowing mailbag underneath one of the tables and covered it with a “wall” of cardboard, along with chairs.
Meanwhile, going into Secret Santa week as a 6th grader was both exhilarating and a little bit nerve-wracking. While I was super thrilled to give and receive presents, I was also anxious to make sure I got my Secret Santa the perfect thing. To make sure I found something right, I turned to Kristina Klauzinski for her genius Secret Santa Cheat Sheet. I found out everything my Secret Santa liked and was ready for Secret Santa week to come rolling in. When the first day of Secret Santa finally came, I was delighted to come to school and find my present waiting for me at my locker. I opened it with awe as I found exactly what I’d been looking for! As I pondered on how this person knew me so well, I realized it was all thanks to Kristina for creating the cheat sheet. Because Kristina had made the Secret Santa Cheat Sheet, my Secret Santa now knew exactly what I liked. Since my first day at Montrose, I looked forward to receiving my first Secret Santa present. When I finally got one, I anticipated all the other Secret Santa days to come.
The second day of Secret Santa was color day in which each participant would bring a gift or wrap their gift in the color corresponding to their grade level: the sixth graders were green, the seventh graders were purple, the eighth graders were orange, the freshmen were blue, the sophomores were silver, the juniors were teal, the seniors were gold, and the faculty were pink. Due to some confusion, both the seventh graders and juniors wrapped their gifts in teal, which caused a bit of chaos in the middle school hallway as the seventh graders rushed to write “seventh grade” on their gifts to not be confused with gifts from the juniors. Despite that, day two of Secret Santa was a success, including with my booming business, which, once again, had me using multiple mail-bags along with my locker and makeshift cardboard barrier compartment underneath the senior commons table.
Although Kristina could (sort of) manage just fine stuffing presents and gift bags into her locker and under tables, I, a 6th grader, decided to help her out. In my free periods, I would help Kristina deliver Secret Santa gifts to students. As I started to get to know Kristina’s “operation,” as she called it, I started wondering what would happen when she graduated from Montrose this year and had no heir to her brilliant business. While educating myself about Kristina’s business, I started to take mental notes on how to cleverly deliver presents during the day and in between classes – ideally not involving being late to every subject. When I mentioned to her that I wanted to take over her operation (of course with all credit to her), she was very supportive and gave me tips on how to send out the Secret Santa form, how to keep track of all the presents you deliver, and how to be on the lookout for responses and emails for the next hour or two straight after you send out the Secret Santa Cheat Sheet. With that information in mind, I was already looking forward to next year, when I would become the heir to ‘Operation Secret Santa Cheat Sheet!’
The third and final day of Secret Santa (that is, before the reveal day), was cozy day, which as a senior, was my last ever time hand-delivering Secret Santa gifts, a business that I started four years ago and has built up rapidly since then. It was bittersweet, especially delivering my last gift of the day. Since the reveal gifts are left for the recipient to pick up, instead of being anonymously delivered, this was my final (official day) of Secret Santa. At the end of the day, I was really proud of how hard I worked with my small business and how many faculty and students across all grades I met through it. At the end of the three days, I had delivered 157 gifts, which was my largest feat yet, with the number of gifts delivered skyrocketing from last year’s record of eighty. Even with the large number of gifts that I had in my possession during the week, I’m happy to say that across all three days, every single one made it to its recipient by the end of Student Life, every gift made it to the RIGHT person (yes, gifts have gone to the wrong people in the past, causing me to have to run after people and trade them for their actual gift), and every gift made it in one piece. Fun fact: all three days, it took me all day to deliver every gift, and I used every break time I had, from the five minutes of passing time between classes to my lunch time, study, and Student Life.
From a 6th grader’s perspective, being there when Kristina delivered her last Secret Santa present was hard. Although I wasn’t there for the last 3 years, I can feel all the hard work she put into her business. In the end, it definitely paid off. From seeing Kristina Klauzinski race down the halls with at least 20 bags on each arm and a crazy new headband each day, I know that taking over as the potential new Secret Santa deliverer will be a difficult title to fight for.
The final Montrose Christmas tradition is Christmas Skits. Each year, every grade makes one, and the seniors make a video, which is a bunch of clips of the seniors doing crazy things. For the 6th grade Christmas Skit, the Class of 2030 decided to make a prologue of the famous movie, The Grinch. To decide on roles, we picked names out of a hat and the stage and costume crew figured out the rest. The planning and script writing was a messy process, including a guy named Gerald and American Girl Doll sweaters (don’t ask). In the end, we were able to put together a decent skit with clean blocking and entrances. My first experience with Christmas Skits was mediocre. I feel like I had higher hopes for it, given seeing The Sound of Music, Willy Wonka Jr., Newsies, and so much more. I understood that this 100% was not a musical or a professional play with intense memorization of lines and precise blocking, but I speak for most of the 6th grade when I say we could’ve done just a little bit better.
The filming of the Senior Christmas Skit Video was organized chaos, to say the least. Going into it, we didn’t really have a plan, but after the first few clips, things started to pick up, and we began to come up with more and more ideas. Some of the MANY chaotic ordeals that took place during filming include but are definitely far from limited to: jamming around twenty of us into one bathroom stall, standing on tables, charging into teachers’ offices, jamming like sardines behind Mrs. Howard’s desk in deep squats in order for us to jump out, and one of the funniest: climbing on top of the lockers. Believe it or not, climbing onto lockers is harder than it looks and not even standing on a chair will get you high enough to climb up; having cheerleading experience, I came up with the idea to use a traditional cheerleading lift to bring each girl from the chair to the top of the lockers.
Overall, reflecting on my last Montrose Christmas, I can say that I truly went out with a bang, from my Secret Santa Cheat Sheet to my Secret Santa delivery business, and so much more. Reflecting on my first Montrose Christmas, Christmas time at Montrose was super enjoyable and I soaked up every second of it. From the decorating of classrooms to all 4 days of Secret Santa week, I have to say that the Christmas season at Montrose is one of my favorite traditions yet.
By Sarah Tea ‘30 and Kristina Klauzinski ‘24, Staff Writer and Sports Editor
30stea@montroseschool.org & 24kklauzinski@montroseschool.org
