Sorority sisters and fraternity brothers living on Greek Row get to celebrate two things at once at Christmas time.

As NIU students, they find that both the holidays and the end of final exams are worth celebrating with each other.

“It’s tense during finals week, but after that, it’s fun,” said Silvia Rosselli, social chair of Delta Zeta sorority.

Student attitudes on Greek Row depend on what year in school the students are, said Doug Hughes, social chair of Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity. Hughes said he finds that freshmen are usually anxious to go home, whereas seniors are more interested in attending parties.

Before they leave for semester break, sororities and fraternities celebrate the Christmas season with their own members and also by doing community service.

“We have a Secret Santa dance where we set and the sororities are invited,” Hughes said.

Almost every sorority has a Christmas party of its own, said Sharon Humphrey, external public relations director of Alpha Phi sorority.

In the Sigma Kappa house, all members bring decorations from home after Thanksgiving to decorate the house, said Christine Miller.

The community work fraternities and sororities do includes Christmas caroling at nursing homes and collecting toys for needy children, said Dawn Buschar, social chair of Delta Gamma sorority.

Alpha Phi sorority helped to set up the NIU athletic department’s “Lunch With Santa” program for DeKalb children at the Dec. 1 basketball game, Humphrey said.

“When finals are over, everyone says ‘I’ll miss you’ and we exchange a winter phone list in case we want to get together over break,” Roselli said.