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BIRTHDAY CAKE Some of my favorite things about the holiday season are the traditions and my Christmas Eve birthday celebration with family. My mom’s side of the family kicks off the Christmas

CHOCOLATE ORANGES

Despite our Italian background, over the years my family picked up some pieces from other places. Every year, my sister Cecilia and

holiday with a gift exchange (we pull names on Thanksgiving Day) and then a get-together at my grandma’s house on Christmas Eve. Christmas Eve also happens to be my birthday, and my family always finds a way to celebrate me during the Christmas Eve party with a cake, balloons or a toast — and, of course, a happy birthday song. The older I get, the more I realize how special it is to have a birthday on Christmas Eve. My birthday is never just another day, it’s always a celebration, and I’m always surrounded by family.

I receive a German smoker. It’s a little wooden man dressed for various occupations, and he holds a little pipe. You place a lit incense cone inside and the little guy looks like he’s smoking through his pipe! My sister likes to light them all at once so the living room is thick with scented fog. Another Christmas staple in our household is a chocolate orange from the U.K. It’s an orange-flavored and -shaped chocolate sphere wrapped in shiny orange foil. You whack the chocolate orange on the table before unwrapping it. This causes the orange to break into perfect slices.

– Amanda Kennedy, Senior Manager Brand & Marketing Strategy

– Mary Ann Florey, Graphic Designer

RICE & GRAVY Two words: Rice & gravy. I’d never indulged in this delicacy before getting married, as our family stuck to the traditional turkey, ham and sides. When I moved to Chackbay, Louisiana,

MOVIE MARATHONS Every Christmas we do a movie marathon. We pick a series or an actor, and we spend the whole day in our

I was introduced to from-scratch gravy by my husband’s Grandma Carol, and the rest is history. For the past 16 years my entire plate has been filled with rice & gravy, with a second plate of all of the other delicious food that started cooking before sunrise.

PJs watching movies. Our favorites are the Die Hard and Lethal Weapon series; we’ve also done all the Marvel X-Men movies and all of Marvel’s The Avengers movies. – Stephanie Hopkins, Senior Graphic Designer

– Taryn Clement, E-commerce Manager

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