In many ways, the winter holidays—Christmas, Chanukkah, Kwanzaa, and others—are about traditions. We celebrate with traditions that people have followed for centuries, but we also create traditions of our own that pass down within our families.
Our staff all celebrate Christmas, and some of them shared their favorite Christmas traditions and memories this year on our Facebook and Twitter pages. For those who don't follow us on those websites, I thought it would be fun to share their traditions here.
From Jennifer, our Administrator: “Every year, my family has a big Christmas Eve party where we gather together to eat dinner and sing carols, and Santa shows up to hand out gifts. It is my favorite time of year, as it has been a lifelong tradition.”
From Antony, our Creative Director: “In 1947, my great-aunts moved from England to Canada, and their family started the tradition of lighting a red candle on Christmas Day so everyone could feel connected. When my father moved us to the U.S. in 1979, we continued the tradition. Now I light a red candle with my wife and daughter every Christmas morning, and we say a prayer for all our overseas family.”
From Kathryn, our Communications Coordinator: “My most precious Christmas memories are of the year our daughter was born. Instead of wrapping the babies in blankets, the staff put them in red Christmas stockings. The nurses shared their Christmas potluck with us (yummy homemade lasagna and crockpot chocolate cake), and our Jewish nurse told us about her family's Chanukkah traditions. I'll never forget seeing the tears in her eyes when we told her we'd named our daughter after my husband's grandmother, who died when he was a teenager.”
What are your favorite holiday traditions and memories?
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