The holiday season holds several special memories for children throughout the world, but students in Cathy Harry’s third grade class at Andalusia Elementary School were asked what their favorite thing was about Christmas, other than opening presents.

Elizabeth Black said Christmas is a very special day for her family.

“We have the opportunity to celebrate Christ’s birth,” she said.

Her classmates Jameson Fowler and Faith Wilson agreed with the answer, emphasizing the celebration of Christ’s birth as their favorite part of the holiday.

Olivia Amerson said that “giving gifts to other people” is her favorite part of Christmas and Will Clark said he enjoys “spending time with family.”

Christmas for Erianna Davison is all about family.

“You get to invite people to your house and cook dinner for lots of people,” she said simply.

Kendrick English said he enjoys seeing “families coming together” for the joyous holiday and Johnathan Harris said he loves “having a Christmas party.”

Tori Harrison said she enjoys celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ and she, along with classmates Kenya Presley and Tessa Walker, added “helping others” to their list of favorite things during the holiday season.

For many of the children in Harry’s class the birth of Christ stood at the top of their list, but many of the youngsters like Luke Johnson added food to their favorites.

“I like to celebrate the birth of Jesus and I also like Christmas food,” he said with a smile.

Diamond Griffin agreed with Luke.

“I love eating food and singing Christmas songs,” she said.

Sharing with family and friends was also a big item on the list of many children.

LaTaija Marshall said she enjoyed “giving and being thankful” and Lonzell Parks said “giving to my family and friends” is very important.

Preston Parrish said he loves playing with his presents after they have been opened and Kyle Powell said, other than presents, he enjoys Christmas Eve.

“I like when we go to church to worship on Christmas Eve,” he said.

Tamesha Pryor said she enjoys “spending time with family and friends” and Conner Sowards said he looks forward to family trips during the holiday season.

“I enjoy having the chance to see family from far away,” he said. “Sometimes we go to Tennessee and sometimes we go to Texas to see our family.”

For many children the answer was easy, but Kieron Shufford said he could not really name one certain thing.

“I love everything,” he said. “I love the whole world being in harmony, celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ.”

As students chimed in with their answers, Harry sat quietly with a slight smile on her face and a glimmer in her eyes. As students filed out of the classroom to enjoy a slight recess she approached the counter with her answer to the question.

“I have been teaching for more than 30 years and I am always pleased this time of season,” she said. “It feels my heart with joy to see the look in the eyes of these children.”