President and senior Alexis O’Brien explains what Christmas means to French people. She said she has high hopes for the annual Christmas party.

French Club will celebrate Christmas in a variety of ways this December. According to sponsor Lisa Carroll, the party will be at Room A223, but officers have not yet determined the date for the Christmas party.

President and senior Alexis O’Brien said members will follow traditions of gift giving from past French Club parties.

She said, “We always do a white elephant event during December, so everyone buys a gift for someone else. It’s kind of like secret santa but you don’t get assigned a specific person. We put our gifts in the middle and draw numbers to see which present we get. You can also choose to switch gifts with somebody.

“A lot of people will buy a big thing of chocolate or maybe some tea. Someone bought a plant growth kit last year and that was pretty cool. It’s pretty much anything from, say, the dollar section at Target will work, so just simple gifts. “

O’Brien said French Club will try to incorporate as much French culture as possible, making the party a learning experience as well as a fun time.

“During the Christmas party, we follow a lot of French traditions, so for example, we might make a French style dessert during Christmas eve. We might talk about Christmas traditions in France and take part it them. The white elephant gift exchange doesn’t really have much to do with French culture, but it’s just a fun way to swap gifts,” he said.

According to O’Brien, French Club will have at least one more event other than the Christmas party.

“We haven’t really talked about going anywhere yet, but we’ll have an officer meeting soon to determine our December outing.”