Over the past couple of years, holiday decorations have changed immensely. From having the traditional Christmas trees and Santa Clauses displayed in public places, malls and stores have been progressively putting out more modern decorations.

Furthermore, some public places refuse to exhibit holiday decorations at all and stick with winter ornaments to avoid any kind of bad press.

Some may believe that displaying simple holiday decorations (i.e. snowmen, gingerbreads and snowflakes) is just being respectful of all cultures, but others  think that it is interfering with the holiday spirit that society has grown to love.

For instance, Roosevelt Mall in Long Island, New York displayed the traditional “take a picture with Santa”; however, Santa’s tree was replaced with an iceberg. Many were upset over “ruining tradition.”

When asking Becton staff their thoughts on how holiday decorating has evolved, many had some good points to make. Substitute Teacher Mr. Barbo believes that every holiday should be displayed and instead of getting rid of Christmas decorations, public places should incorporate Hanukkah and Kwanzaa even more.

“Everyone is a little too sensitive; instead of getting offended by the holiday decorations, we should be taking in the holiday spirit,” he said.

English Teacher Mr. Shin had the same kind of mindset as Mr. Barbo and said, “Those details are missing the point of the season of giving.”

These decorating changes may not be as noticeable for some though. Physical Education Instructor Mr. Settembrino isn’t a huge shopper, so he hasn’t even noticed the change.

“I don’t go to the mall or stores, but the only place I really have noticed it was at school,” he said. Mr. Sett points out that Becton has displayed a “giving tree” in the main office this year instead of a Christmas tree.

As for Media Specialist Ms. Vaccaro, although she is mostly an online shopper, she was made aware of the whole controversy regarding the Starbucks plain red cups, which caused a lot of backlash on social media; however, she didn’t let it bother her at all.