The holiday season is one of my favorite times of the year. It may even rank as my absolute favorite. Growing up, my family always had a few unorthodox traditions to celebrate the holiday season.
I have always enjoyed Thanksgiving and the meal that my family serves with it. When I tell my friends what my family and I eat, they freak out. When my mom was growing up, she never had a traditional Thanksgiving dinner with turkey and traditional sides. Her family always served surf and turf with loads of rice on the side. Although my dad was accustomed to having traditional Thanksgiving dinners, that all changed once he and my mom started dating. Still to this day, my family always has surf and turf with a side of either rice or pasta. Thanksgiving always falls around my brother and my dad’s birthdays, so this meal works for all of those occasions. To make it more non-traditional, we never have pumpkin pie for dessert, which is typical for most families. My mom usually makes her delicious chocolate cake and sometimes accompanies it with an apple pie. Over the years I have found other families who also don’t have traditional Thanksgiving meals and it makes what my family and I eat feel more normal. There have been times where I have gotten FOMO from seeing all of my friends’ Thanksgiving plates, but I would not trade what my family and I eat for anything else. I really enjoy how my family celebrates Thanksgiving and hope to continue the tradition when I have a family of my own.
I know some families love to decorate their houses for the holiday season, but that is something we don’t really do. My mom puts up her Star Wars holiday decorations, but outside of that we don’t do much for holiday decor. Since moving into an apartment I decided I wanted to have more holiday decor than back home, so I got some very cute seasonal items from Target. My dad is the one who goes to get the Christmas tree, and my mom and I decorate it together. This year I was able to get a small tree for my room, which made it feel a bit more festive. I decorated a gingerbread house for the first time last year, and I bought two more to decorate this year. My mom will put up the Menorah when Hanukkah begins, since I am half-Jewish and half-Christian.
The last holiday tradition that my family does differently than others is opening presents. Growing up, we would open all of our presents from family members on Christmas Eve and then on Christmas Day we opened presents from Santa. Some years we also opened a few presents early during Hanukkah, but we never got double the amount of gifts. As my brother and I have gotten older, we open all of our presents on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day is spent eating plenty of cinnamon rolls, writing thank you letters, and watching the last bit of holiday movies. I truly enjoy how my holiday season is spent and I love getting to create new memories and traditions each year. I hope that everyone has a very happy and safe holiday season!