Happy Holidays!

[Rama Mowry]

Happy Holidays everyone! It is Christmas Eve in Oregon and for others around the world it's Christmas! There is more than just Christmas around this time of year, and I invite people to share their holiday traditions!

This is not a "tradition," but I graduated from college December 13th and it's the best gift I could have asked for.

Once again, happy holidays. Everyone stay safe and take care of yourselves!


(on behalf of site staff)

 

[Elliot Briar]

Happy Holidays, everyone! And congrats on graduating, Lovi!

I was actually just discussing this with some folks earlier today, but one of my quintessential kiwi holiday things is always chocolate coins. My roommate was sweet enough to find me some stateside this year and in the process I discovered that they're a Jewish tradition here vs being a sort of secular stocking stuffer back in NZ (likely from European influences).

Anyone else have their go to holiday chocolate/candy? (The other big one in NZ is scorched (chocolate covered) almonds which I miss terribly)

 

[Professor Adorah Zumwalt]

Happy Holidays!!

I don't have any holiday traditions persay. I didn't grow up celebrating anything so the most I can count as a tradition is maybe watching The Family Stone during the season every year.

Can you not find chocolate covered almonds in Texas @Elliot Briar ?

 

[Elliot Briar]

Can you not find chocolate covered almonds in Texas @Elliot Briar ?

You can but there's a very specific kiwi brand that is like The Kiwi stocking stuffer thanks to this ad I believe (Rowan, Mika, Anna, and probably Maria and Annabelle can cosign this).

 

[Poppy Perkins]

Tamales have been a tradition in my family for as long as I can remember and are one of my favorite foods. This year I made them for only the second time ALL BY MYSELF. I made about 70 plus last weekend and was able to deliver some to my friends this week. It’s a very nice feeling to be able to feed my friends even if I can’t be with them.

 

[Professor Adorah Zumwalt]

You can but there's a very specific kiwi brand that is like The Kiwi stocking stuffer thanks to this ad I believe (Rowan, Mika, Anna, and probably Maria and Annabelle can cosign this).

That ad is adorable, and I can understand brand differences. At least you got some coins!

 

[Samuel Phillips]

Happy holidays everyone!! It’s christmas here today and I just got home and it’s been good

I hope everyone has an awesome time with whichever holiday they celebrate

 

[Selene Le Fey]

Merry Christmas everyone.

Anyone else have their go to holiday chocolate/candy? (The other big one in NZ is scorched (chocolate covered) almonds which I miss terribly)

we usually get chocolate coins but mum couldn't find any this year so none this year our other Christmas tradition chocolate is a terry's chocolate orange which I believe is an English/UK thing. you can get therm where but I believe it isn't a traditional Australian thing.

our traditional Christmas is presents in the morning. then a swim at the beach which almost didn't happen this year due to a shark sighting (3 meter bull shark) so we had to wait for the beach to open again. then we have lunch at my nanas (cold meats, party pies and spring rolls etc) also usually with my aunt and uncle before having a few hours chill in the afternoon before having a barbecue for dinner. at the moment we are just at the couple of hours break mid afternoon and I am hiding in the top sitting room. maybe I will get to catch up on a couple of RP's


my other Christmas tradition that is more an amelia one than a family one is checking the site regularly to see what awesome secret Santa gifts have been created. which I am very much looking forward to.

 

[Monty Pendleton]

Happy holidays everyone!! Hope everyone stays safe and well.

We don't really have any traditions! We just wing it

I heckin love Christmas cake though

 

[Samuel Phillips]

I heckin love Christmas cake though

Oof yes it's the best especially with that marzipan frosting

 

[Monty Pendleton]

Oof yes it's the best especially with that marzipan frosting

YES one of my work colleagues doesn't like marzipan or raisins. We had Christmas cake at work and he said it sounded like the worst thing ever

All the more for me

 

[Elliot Briar]

My Nan used to make a Christmas cake that was about the equivalent of eating a brick with raisins on it and I don't know if it's a good or a bad thing that my father still loved it.

 

[Stefan Archer]

Traditions in my household are a little mishmash, because of a heavy french influence. The important dinner is the 24th night before, that's a dinner that can usually take a couple of hours, usually it's very fish heavy as a dinner. But it ends with 13 desserts (some of them are fruits and others are nuts but there has to be 13 total). Christmas is more casual and usually a little more traditionally scottish, with haggis at some point but we usually never have turkey.

 

[Professor Cyndi Kingsley]

I also celebrate mostly on the 24th. We call it Noche Buena (Good Night). We always do roast pork, rice and pigeon peas, and pasteles. People wait all year for pasteles, and they are so worth it.
We also usually do hot chocolate and watch a movie together. This year we watched Jingle Jangle which was cute.
My mom also makes Coquito during this time of year, which is a coconut alcoholic drink that tastes like heaven.

 

[Olivia Drage]

Happy holidays to everyone and please excuse the novel...

So my family is split due to divorce when I was young, and the holidays were always a stressful time shuffling around from place to place. Now that my sisters and I are adults, it's been a lot more manageable. Sometimes I have to pick and choose where I go.

Spoiler: Extended family celebrations

My dad's family- always the Saturday before Christmas. My grandparents immigrated from the Netherlands- on Christmas we will have meat kroketten (croquettes,) some years I will help make them. Except now there are so many of us, they end up ordering broasted chicken so my Oma doesn't have to cook so much. My Oma also makes banket letter (an almond pastry) which is my favorite. And we always get chocolate letters. I'm very close to my dad and his family so I always attend this one.

Mom's family with grandparents- they meet on Xmas day, so I don't always go. My mom's parents make clam chowder every year, except my aunt (married in) is allergic to shellfish so they send us home with jars of it now. My mom makes amazing ham. My grandparents also send us home with care packages (a bag filled with things like paper towels, antifreeze, dish soap, trash bags, other consumables.)

I don't go to my stepmom's family celebrations anymore, it's too much, plus I don't have a strong relationship with them because my dad and stepmom didn't marry until I was 21. That said, I do love my stepmom, I've come to appreciate her so much over the years and I wish she had been in my dad's life earlier. Her family does have a toxic dynamic which I will admit I don't miss that much and don't want to get into here.

Spoiler: Immediate family celebrations

Immediate family- Mom's side: we usually celebrate in January to avoid conflicts with other family. We do fondue with peanut oil and meats/veggies, crescent rolls, salad. On Dad's side, we all try to meet at the same time, but it doesn't always work, and there's not really a tradition there yet, it's been difficult trying to establish one.

Throwing another tradition into the mix, my husband's parents always celebrate on Xmas Eve/day. He is an only child so this is where we usually end up on those days. My MIL is English so we will do things like Christmas crackers. We do scratch tickets as well, have yet to win anything. My MIL also makes Christmas pudding, gingerbread, and mince pies with custard. Turkey, roasted potatoes, veggies.

I'm missing out on almost all of the above traditions this year, but it was nice to reflect on them, so thank you, Lovi! Yesterday, I made a duck, sweet potatoes, and broccoli for dinner. Chris and I visited with family over Google Duo. We opened presents together and hung out for most of the day.

 

[Ainsley Lynch]

I'm late but happy hols all!! My fam does Christmas EXTREMELY casual, since none of us are big tradition people. Generally I cook a big xmas lunch since it's my one chance a year to subject the ENTIRE FAMILY to my cooking (this year was mini blueberry pies and a make-your-own-sushi platter) then we sorta do presents (this yr I was the only person who actually brought physical wrapped presents) then just watch tv or whatever. Usually my sister and I go for a big hike because I really miss the hills around my mum's house & don't get to go there often, but it rained this year so we just stayed in and watched Crazy Ex-Girlfriend. Super casual, like I said, but it's our way of doing things

 

[Professor Cyndi Kingsley]

a make-your-own-sushi platter

Omg, can we have more details about this?? It sounds fab!

 

[Ainsley Lynch]

Omg, can we have more details about this?? It sounds fab!

Aaaa thank you!!! I've alternately been calling it a charsusherie boad and a sushcuterie board (like... charcuterie.... i really like..... Awful portmanteaus) I prepped a bunch of sushi rice seasoned 2 different ways (one with rice vinegar/sugar/salt and one with sesame oil) and brought a bunch of my fav sushi fillings along with some nori and inari, and did a little workshop to teach my parents how to roll sushi a few different ways. Made for a fun activity AND a delicious lunch (and I didn't have to make half a dozen rolls of sushi myself >:3)

Here's a pic of the fillings!

Spoiler

There's carrot, cucumber, capsicum, sliced inari, pickled radish, seasoned burdock root, kimchi, avocado, and separate yolk and white sliced omelettes! (no meat cause I'm veg )

 

[Van Voclain]

That looks amazing!!! What an awesome idea