These Are A Few Of Our Favorite Things

These Are A Few Of Our Favorite Things

The holidays just wouldn’t be the same without these heartfelt, sometimes silly and always authentically human traditions.

By Kaylee Duff

Holidays are full of traditions. Things we do every year since childhood, without question, for what can sometimes seem like no reason. From being steeped in religious practices to just plain random, holiday routines are often what we look forward to most. It gives us a break from the constant hustle-and-bustle of buying gifts and avoiding lines.

Every person has their traditions special and unique to their experience. For example, here’s one of my favorite holiday traditions: My family only eats un-cooked food on Christmas Eve. I’m not entirely sure when or why this started, but for as long as I can remember, my family has eaten cheese and crackers and veggies for dinner on Christmas Eve. We’ll come home from church, and then set up shop wrapping presents, drinking hot chocolate and eating our cold dinner. We always have lots of olives and summer sausage (my mom’s favorite).

So we asked our readers what some of your favorite customs are. Here’s what you had to say:

• “I have a playlist of Christmas music that I listen to all season long. Most of the songs are holiday-specific, but I also included some songs that just remind me of the holidays. My favorite is “My Favorite Things” from The Sound of Music, which is not technically a Christmas song, but is usually included in lots of holiday albums and is undeniably an absolute bop.”

• “My family used to hide a pickle ornament in the tree, and whichever of us found it first got to open a present first.”

• “My parents got a divorce when I was seven, so I got to have two Christmas celebrations! I would celebrate with my mom and stepdad on Christmas Eve, and then with my dad and stepmom on Christmas Day! My mom would always cook her homemade noodles and ham. My dad was always adventurous and cooked something different every year, and sometimes it turned out edible. My dad once got me a BB gun and I shot the brand new siding on his house. I got coal for a few years after that. My mom knew it happened, so she always got me the hottest gadgets that year. I’m starting to think she was rewarding me for ruining my dad’s siding!”

• “Instead of spending the whole day slaving away in the kitchen to make this elaborate meal, our family would make homemade personalized pizzas from scratch (I always thought making the dough and throwing it in the air was the best part). Way more fun and less stressful!”

• “A new tradition for me is to visit the local autism organization as Santa.”

• “Boxing Day Chinese takeout and a movie! We don’t do it every year, but most years it’s in our head to do it the day after Christmas. Also: when my niece and nephew got old enough to help decorate the tree, my mom put out our soft and simple, non-fragile ornaments for them. Even now, when they’re 9 and 11, we still start with those!”

• “If I was spending a holiday with my dad, it doesn’t matter which holiday, we always had to watch the movie Captain Ron.”

• “Since I’ve stopped spending holidays with my family, Thanksgiving and Christmas have become a day of Skype. Christmas is my day to completely veg out by myself, order half the Chinese takeout menu and go see a movie.”

• “I have to have chips and dip for New Years. It’s a thing.”

• “We all go over to my grandma’s house and bring different desserts. Then line dance in the living room while a football game was in the background. When my mom and I went home, we set up the Christmas tree and watch the Garfunkel’s Christmas and Thanksgiving [specials]. We still do it till this day.”

• “Fun thing that my boyfriend’s family does is everyone in the house on Christmas Eve helps prepare a breakfast for Christmas Day. We get in an assembly line and cut fresh homemade bread slices with a slit in the middle, dip then in cinnamon vanilla egg batter, and then stuff them with cream cheese and jam. Then his mom gets up early to bake them, so you wake up on Christmas morning to the best freaking smell ever and get to eat it while the kiddos open presents.”

• “We had this Santa that held a light-up candle that had two modes: no sound or incredibly loud. Christmas morning my grandma and I always woke up extra early just to look at the lights, drink coffee and have heart-to-hearts. And we’d turn Santa’s candle on. Then when I just couldn’t stand it anymore, she’d let me turn the sound on and I’d run upstairs to my sleeping mom, uncle, aunt and grandpa with it. I still usually get up early and turn on the lights even if I’m just sitting with my cat.”

• “When I was in grade school and high school, my family and I would bake a bunch of different Christmas goodies for all of our teachers. Every year, they’d all get so hype for these goodie baskets and it made me so happy! Also, my family eats spaghetti and meatballs on Christmas.”

• “Once my sister found out about Santa, my family decided to move Christmas to New Year’s Eve. We still celebrate Christmas on Christmas, but we do all the gift giving on New Year’s. We buy gifts during those couple days in between, when everything goes super cheap.”

• “We get a pair of PJs every year on Christmas and it’s the one present we’re allowed to open on Christmas Eve.”

• “My mom makes us wear themed costumes. The mermaid year was great for the guys.”

• “Champagne Jell-O shots on New Years Eve.”

• “When I was a young boy, my mom’s side of the family would get together at my grandparents house on Christmas Eve. We would have lasagna for dinner and play board games. My brother and I would always look forward to see the bubble lights my grandparents used to light their tree.”

• “Since my girls were in high school, we watch the Christmas morning scene from Female Trouble before we open gifts on Christmas morning.”

• “On Christmas Eve eve, we bake our Christmas cookies then we spend the night in the living room, under the Christmas tree, watching movies and whatever and hanging out.”