I’ve been meaning to start some fun holiday season traditions with Farzan for a while now. On one hand, I don’t want to overdo it and celebrate the winter holidays more than I’d celebrate my own religious holidays since..let’s face it, I don’t actually celebrate Christmas as a religious holiday. (Yes, there are other winter holidays, but in America, Christmas is king since we all get work and government holidays for it.) I think it’s problematic to forget who you are and to assimilate to the point where you’re celebrating the dominant culture’s holidays more than your own culture’s or religion’s. But on the other hand, everyone gets time off and our kids will always have a vacation during this time of year, so it would be nice to have some traditions to make the winter season less bleak.
Growing up, my family didn’t celebrate Christmas or make a big to-do about it. As my younger brother got older and expressed a desire to get Christmas gifts, my mom gave in a bit. We’ve had a tree for the last 8-10 years, and my mom would gift us something cute, though nothing extravagant since, again, we don’t celebrate the holiday. We would also have plenty of parties with family friends at the end of the year, so that was fun. I guess you could say we had some traditions of our own growing up, but it was never so concrete. These are the traditions I’m starting this year with Farzan:
Decor
I’ve tried to keep it tasteful with only a few simple items. We got this garland from BedBath&Beyond as well as a cute wreath for our door. Besides that, I love candles and have a couple winter-y ones. This one is such a great price and smells like Christmas trees! I’m not doing anything more since it’ll just look like clutter, though.
Donate
I think this can be money or just clothes and things we’ve accumulated. This year, we have a lot of nice stuff that we just need to get rid of since Manhattan apartments are tight on space. Some people are in for a treat at the local Goodwill!
Holiday photos
I can’t resist a good photo opportunity! I’d like to snag some photos with Farzan at the Lotte Palace Christmas tree every year, though the hotel is closed to visitors this year because of COVID. Matching PJs photos are cute as well, but I’m not sure if that’s too cheesy for us.
Harry Potter marathon
This is such a holiday classic. I’d love to do this, especially with friends! The only issue I see with this is the time commitment it will take to watch all eight movies. we may have to just leave the movies running in the background while we multitask, instead.
Food
I have a great cookie recipe that Farzan and I both love, so that’s for sure on the list. Besides that, I’ll have a meal that I always cook around the end of the year, but I’m not sure what. Probably something South Asian, though.
White elephant with friends
We’ve been doing this already, but I want to make a point of having some sort of get-together with friends before everyone goes home for the holidays. This is the first year that we aren’t having this tradition since COVID has complicated things.
Ice skating, sledding, or skiing
I just want to make sure we do at least one of these each season. Luckily Bryant Park has a nice rink that’s close to our home, so we really have no excuse.
And that’s just about it. Let me know if there are any other must-do traditions on your list! Thank you for reading 🙂
