Each year, we like to review some of our holiday favorites – favorite holiday movie, favorite holiday drink, etc. This year we’re focused on traditions! Below are some of our favorite holiday traditions. What are some of yours?
“Every Christmas morning, my mom makes this blueberry/cream cheese/french toast casserole that is to DIE for. My family and I beg her to make it for other occasions, but she insists on only making it on Christmas. So my family’s Christmas tradition consists of my sisters and I gathering around the table in our matching Christmas jammies and eating our body weight in french toast casserole, then watching a Lord of the Rings or Harry Potter marathon as we recover from our food comas. ” – Ashley
“We are never in the same place. Sometimes we’re at my parents’ house (which has been in 4 different towns), sometimes we’re in Pennsylvania with my dad’s family and sometimes we’re with my wife’s family in Crystal Lake, trying to avoid Jason Voorhees. But almost without fail we have lasagna and pizza dip on Christmas Eve. Pizza dip is like pizza, but without the crust, that you dip Triscuits into. We also almost always go to a movie in the afternoon.” – Patrick
“Every year on New Year’s Day, my wife and I host a brunch for our friends. We always play a White Elephant gift exchange and laugh at some of the presents our friends received over the holidays.” – Jon
“As a kid, we would always eat finger foods and watch Christmas movies on Christmas Eve. My parents had a strict rule of no presents until Christmas morning, so we saved them until the next day. Now on Christmas Eve, my husband and I drink White Russians (a Lebowski favorite), watch National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation, and open all our gifts that night!” – Meghan
“I grew up in Texas, and as a child every winter my family would fly home to Chicago where we’d go to my aunt’s house for Christmas Eve. We’d have a big spaghetti dinner, get into our Christmas pajamas, and my grandfather would read us ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas.’ My fondest memory of this was how every year he would pause to explain to us what a “kerchief” and the “down of a thistle” was. Every. Single. Year.” – Amanda
“My favorite holiday tradition is going to afternoon high tea with all my girlfriends. For the past 10 years, we pick a different Chicago restaurant or hotel, get dressed up and take in all the holiday decor. There’s just something about the holiday season that lends itself particularly well to sipping hot beverages while raising your pinky. :)” – Lindsay
“One tradition I have particularly enjoyed every year since starting the agency is our Office Christmas Party. It’s a late lunch event, often extending into early evening, where our team of practiced storytellers tunes out work and celebrates the holidays, good fellowship, and inevitably shares tales of holidays past and irreverent humor. We started in the era of the 3-martini lunch, so generous cocktails, good wine and interesting food are essentials. In more than 30 years we have never held our often raucous, always festive Christmas lunch at the same venue twice (due to the plethora of great Chicago restaurants, not because we were banned from returning, although some years it was a close call.)” – Michael
Happy holidays from M+! We’re wishing you a safe and happy holiday season – see you in 2017!