As the clock struck 6 p.m. Friday night, swarms of Biola students flooded Hart’s Haven hall for its annual, “Deck the Haven” Christmas party. Each year, the event grows bigger and the quality evolves. This year, room themes ranged from a senior home, to a vacation bible school, and even a surprise engagement!

Plenty of planning is required in order for something as incredible as Deck the Haven to occur. “One of the first things people start thinking about once Deck the Haven ends is what to do next year,” said sophomore Riley Rath. It is thanks to this kind of forward-thinking that Deck the Haven continues to improve year after year.

Bringing a campus together

“Deck the Haven is all about bringing people together. That includes roommates, a hall, a dorm, and a campus,” said sophomore John Santa Ana about the event.

“This year was possibly the best,” senior Christian Sprunger said. Christian and his roommates, seniors Alex Granger and Ben Brandt, modeled their room after a senior home. Since every year they choose to showcase the celebration of Christmas in a specific setting, a senior home was a logical, if unexpected choice of scene. The room won this year’s “Most Hospitable” award.

Another popular room was the vacation bible school room by junior Jeff Orndorff, and sophomores Riley Rath and Brandon Seagraves. In this room, visitors were entertained by a puppet show and led in song by Rath on the guitar.

Creativity shines

Many viewers believed the two most creative rooms were done by sophomores Jeremy Kozak and Matt Bushyeager, and junior Roddy Garcia. Kozak and Bushyeager designed a room influenced by the movie, “A Christmas Story.” Their room featured a bar, shooting range, and a realistic fireplace.

Garcia’s room impressively emulated a dock over an ocean. He arranged planks of wood leading into the room from his doorway, and covered the floor with reflective mirrors. Garcia, who didn’t sleep at all the night before the event because he was setting up, was awarded “Best Overall” and “Most Creative” for his room.

The proposal

But possibly the most exciting part of the night took place in the room of Mark Simonin and Curby Gibson, where Simonin proposed to his girlfriend using a stop-motion video he had been preparing since September. She said yes.