MS Holiday Activity & Tradition Board! by Alexandra Willis

Italian 7 Fish Dinner

alexandrawillis1 — 2020-12-16 18:23:05 UTC

My mom is very Italian and very traditional. That said, every year she makes a huge dinner for our family that consist of 7 different fish cuisines...and some pasta of course. This year, I'm taking on the family tradition and trying it out!

Food

2020-12-17 00:41:59 UTC

My favorite holiday traditions revolve around food. For Thanksgiving, I love the dinner that we've done with NY principals. In the years when we don't travel, we usually go to Flushing for X'mas since only Chinese restaurants are open. And, of course, pies from Four and Twenty Blackbirds :) - Chi

Potlucks and Games!

2020-12-17 01:12:51 UTC

It has been a longtime tradition in my family that for every major holiday, each representative family (my mom is the eldest of 8) cooks enough so that everyone has enough to eat the night of and pack to take home. It is a true FEAST of so many Caribbean and traditional dishes. :) yum! To top it off we spend our time playing a host of games into the wee hours of the night #teamnosleep (and yes, as the "teacher" of the family I am the official gamemaster, even virtually :)) - Rochelle

Game Nights

annedreacoleman — 2020-12-17 14:22:17 UTC

Every holiday, we have a tradition of sharing and playing new games!! It is always a good time to yell, scream and enjoy each other's company!

Food
- My aunt makes a BOMB homemade fried rice
- My cousin can cook his butt off, so anything he makes is delicious
- I make a slamming ziti and an alfredo cheese sauce pasta
-Lastly, my other aunt can bake her butt off. All of the pastries and baked goods are absolutely AMAZING!
<3 Coleman

Mexican Christmas Eve

2020-12-17 14:48:25 UTC

In a normal year, almost all of my mom's entire family comes together on Christmas. That's my mom and her 6 siblings, around 30 of us cousins, plus their significant others and children. We do traditional tamales and enchiladas. We've added book exchange in the last couple of years as well. This year, we are doing it on zoom. Pray for us.

<3 Kate

Trees and Stockings

2020-12-17 22:34:45 UTC

As some of you may know, I was raised as a Christian, but my wife, Rachael, is Jewish. Something that makes me smile is that Rachael has become more obsessed with keeping my family's traditions alive than I am. I jokingly call her "Captain Christmas." Every year I say that we don't have enough room in our New York apartment for a Christmas tree, and she insists (she is the boss, after all), and I'm glad she does. Decorating the tree with Ella participating this year was so much fun! Rachael also hangs stockings from our kitchen counter (again, no hearth in this New York apartment!) and fills them with thoughtful little gifts for the entire family. I really love watching my family enjoy these little traditions that I enjoyed growing up.
- Jesse

Carnitas + Nerf Wars

2020-12-17 23:36:46 UTC

My mom grew up in LA, and when she was a young child, a family immigrated to her neighborhood from Mexico just before Christmastime. Mom's family invited her new neighbors over for Christmas Eve, and the two families joined in celebration over a meal that helped her new neighbors feel less homesick. Thus spurred a tradition, and every year since, my mom's family cooked a meal of carnitas tacos, rice, and beans. My mom has carried that tradition on with us, and it is the meal I look most forward to throughout the entire year.

When my dad's father was a child in the early/mid 1900s, there was a year he didn't receive any toys for Christmas, and he henceforth vowed to never let his future kids go without silly joy on Christmas. Until his passing, he sent his kids (who were in their 40s and 50s at the time) stocking stuffers that included silly toys. My mom vigorously embraced this a decade ago when my own dad passed. Fast forward to a couple years ago when she gave my brother, me, and our partners small nerf guns in our christmas stockings. We imbibed in some...*ahem*...eggnog...and got REALLY into a nerf gun war. That escalated into us now having approximately 7 MASSIVE nerf guns, "Rules of Nerfmass", hidden nerf weapons, and secret alliances, and we add to our collection every year (I last week bought a "vacuum" to pick up nerf darts and bullets, so we don't have to slow down the battle too much). <3 Alli