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TRADITION!

The holidays are filled with a lot of traditions. Traditions varying from family to family. One of my favorite things is to hear about the different traditions that families have. For this blog post, I asked three students some questions about what it's like around the holidays with their families!

Of the students I asked, two of them come from Italian backgrounds which means that holidays are a big production in their families. Joe Agro states that "the best part of the holidays is the Italian food and all the craziness that comes with it". Ryan McConville elaborates on the food and tells us that his family does the classic 7 fishes dinner. "My aunt and uncle spend the whole day preparing various types of seafood dishes from lobster to calamari. I really don't like seafood at all so I usually end of eating the mini microwavable pizzas with the little kids."

sevenfishes
An example of a seven fish dinner.

I asked Erin Damers what her favorite childhood holiday memory was and she says, "My favorite memory was driving home from my aunt's on Christmas Eve trying to look for Santa in the sky. I usually convinced myself that the red light of an airplane was Rudolph's nose". Joe adds that his dad used to dress up as Santa with jingle bells, and eight-year-old Joe would scream in horror and threaten to tell on him if he wouldn't leave.

Ryan McConville began weeping when we asked at what age he stopped believing in Santa and yelled, "WAIT, SANTA ISN'T REAL?!" so apologies, and we hope you have a great holiday season.

When Joe told his older brother that Santa isn't going to bring him any gifts if he continues to misbehave, his brother ruined the Christmas magic and told Joe the cold hard truth that Santa, in fact, does not exist. Erin was a smart cookie and had her suspicions and said to her mother, "You can tell me Santa isn't real. I'll cry hysterically, but you can tell me." Of course, mother didn't have the heart to do that but Erin caught her bringing up the presents from the basement, anyway.

Growing up, Christmas was all about the presents! Personally, my favorite present was an ugly christmas sweater given by my best friend and her father. Erin admits to this being a lame favorite gift, but her Nancy Drew computer games consumed her childhood and loved opening them up on Christmas day.

Joe's favorite gift was a bit of foreshadowing to his microbiology major. He tells us that he was gifted a toy microscope and telescope when he was nine. Ryan is on the opposite side of the spectrum and says his favorite gift was going to see the musical "Promises, Promises" on a beautiful winter night with his mother.

nancy drew
One of Erin's favorite games as a child (and maybe still as a teen?)

I hope this post got you thinking about your family traditions, meals, and some of your favorite gifts! Here's to another great holiday season and I wish you happy holidays with a plethora of hot cocoa and christmas movies.