As an ambitious 14-year-old, junior Lexie Tilson began her niche hobby of flower sticks. Flower sticks consist of one center stick with tassels on both ends and two control sticks held in each hand. The center stick is juggled between the control sticks and can be flipped and tossed in the air to illustrate elaborate tricks. 

“I went on a trip with five friends, and one of their moms thought we were gonna be bored, so they brought all of this random stuff that they found at this garage sale,” Tilson said. “There were these really musty, dirt covered sticks. So we all took it upon ourselves to try and learn how to use them.”

Tilson quickly became obsessed with the sticks, and her competitive nature drove her to be the best out of her friends. She had two sticks and a dream, and was committed to being the best. 

“My sister became really good at it pretty quickly,” Tilson said.“She could hit them back and forth and I was like, ‘well, I don’t like that. She’s beating me at this and I don’t like losing to her. I became obsessive. Then we left because the trip was over, and I was very sad. I was thinking about the sticks constantly.”

The loss of the sticks stayed in Tilson’s mind long after the trip, and she couldn’t shake the feeling that she needed to find them again to continue her passion.

“I told my parents that the only thing I want for Christmas is a new set of sticks,” Tilson said. “I got them for Christmas, and my love for them has persisted through many ups and downs.”

Along with Tilson’s love for the sticks, she also had a love for Christmas. She combined the two together and called it “Stixmas”. This meant Tilson would make a video of her doing the flower sticks and putting a Christmas song over the video. 

“Stixmas started when one of my friends did sticks at Christmas time and I was like ‘I’ll do some sticks at Christmas time.’ Then we’ll call it stixmas,”’ Tilson said. “But then it became this whole big competition and we would compete every single day.”

Lexie and senior Charlotte Boren got very invested in stixmas and sparked some competition between them. They fought over who was better and attempted to outdo the other in each video posted. 

“She would post and then she would tag me, and she would be like, ‘I bet Lexie can’t do this.’ And I was like, ‘well, I bet you can’t do this,’” Tilson said. “It ended up leading to a lot of fights, but in the end, it was all worth it, because it brought me stixmas.” 

Despite the challenges Tilson faced during the first stixmas. She focused on her love for Christmas and continued making her daily videos.

“My favorite part about Stixmas would definitely have to be putting a smile on my friends’ faces,” Tilson said. “I always make sure to wear my Christmas PJs and my Christmas clothes, and then I make up my own little dances. I just love the thought of it popping up on my friends for-you-pages, them seeing it, and them smiling.”

Tilson has continued her stixmas tradition for three years and posts videos almost daily on her account.

“I did not let the complications of stixmas stop me from doing one of the things I love,” said Tilson. “When I put in the work towards Stixmas, it makes me and my friends happy.”