Everyone has their holiday favorites. These are a few of ours:
Jeremy Mumpower — The Boss
Movie:
National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation
Cookie / Sweet:
My mother-in-law makes real caramels that are killer. I’m not a big sweets guy… I like snickerdoodles. Are those considered holiday cookies?
Drink:
Great Lakes Brewing Christmas Ale
Side Dish:
There isn’t a side dish I can think of, but we do alway have ham oven sliders on Christmas Eve. My mom use to do it and now we do. That’s kind of like a side, right?
Scent:
Real Christmas tree
Decoration:
The big colored retro-bulb lights. The tacky ones.
Activity:
Just spending time with the family.
Tradition:
We cut down our Christmas tree, like in Christmas Vacation. I don’t like having to do all the work, but my family loves it, and that makes it ok by me.
Memory:
When I was 3 or 4 I got an x-wing fighter for Christmas and I was so excited. The minute I got it opened, my brother puked on it.
Gift to date:
That x-wing fighter my brother threw up on.
Julianna Kuetemeyer — Strategist
Movie:
This is a tough one. Usually I say Die Hard, 1 & 2… then The Santa Claus 1, but this year, Netflix put out The Christmas Chronicles and I’ve been obsessed. I just LOVE Kurt Russel.
Cookie / Sweet:
Unfortunately, I can’t do wheat anymore. It use to be my mom’s kolaches, then things I called snowballs (which are short bread balls rolled in powdered sugar) and of course, your basic cutouts. Now-a-days it’s gluten-free cut-outs… with red hot candies.
Drink:
I’m a sucker for a peppermint mocha.
Side Dish:
Garlic bacon parmesan Brussel sprouts. (Get the recipe)
Scent:
Cinnamon. Like red hots.
Decoration:
It’s a toss up between the tree and well done Christmas lights on houses–not too many, just crisp.
Activity:
Hands down — sledding. I have a whole system to maximize time on the hill without getting too wet.
Tradition:
For a while, we would do these ridiculous family Christmas photos, but now we are too busy. The kids are getting to the age where we can start new traditions, and we are currently playing with a “12 Nights of Christmas” house where Santa practices bringing little gifts before the big day. It makes bedtime a bit easier.
Memory:
I’ve been fortunate enough to have some pretty good holidays. But, two years ago, on Christmas morning, I found out I was pregnant with my 2nd child... so that was pretty cool.
Gift to date:
Back in my youth, I made up a song to the tune of Silver & Gold about Curious George. That year, my best friend’s mom bought me a Curious George stuffed animal. She past a few years after that, but I’ve been collecting Curious George stuff ever since.
Laura Heigel — Designer
Movie:
Growing up, we would watch the marathon of “A Christmas Story” all day. We loved the movie so much that we even named our family cat Ralphie!
Cookie / Sweet:
Definitely buckeyes
Drink:
Hot chocolate with peppermint
Side Dish:
Dinner Rolls
Scent:
Any cozy candle scent — at the moment it’s Balsam & Cedar
Decoration:
Christmas tree with white lights
Activity:
Over the past few years, I’ve taken on the responsibility of putting together a calendar for my Mom’s side of the family. Everybody sends me pictures of what they’ve been up to the past year, and it’s a lot of fun to go through their pictures and create this gift for everyone.
Tradition:
There is a lot of traveling around the holiday season to visit family in different cities and states, but I love having the tradition of always making sure that I am waking up Christmas Day at home
Memory:
One year when we were kids, my older brother, younger sister, and I decided to stay up all
night Christmas Eve into Christmas morning so we could hear Santa bring our presents. We spent those hours in our room playing Monopoly, Candy Land, and other board games. I don’t think we were able to stay up long enough to hear him…
Gift to date:
I would say one of my favorite gifts was when I was around ten years old, I got a huge art box set with markers, colored pencils, and oil pastels
