Tiffanie Villareal, our Production Coordinator, gets together with her family and strings popcorn for their Christmas Trees.
Project Specialist, Dan Wolf and his family honor their English roots by popping open Crackers and strutting proudly in their paper crowns.
Jeanette Murphy, our HR coordinator, remembers Christmas morning to be a sleepy time. Her father worked 2nd shift, so they would wake the kids at 1am to open presents. Here is the upside to this program...mama gets to sleep in on Christmas morning and the kids have plenty of new "stuff" to entertain themselves. (This is one worth stealing).
Pajama Mama
Our director of first impressions, Natasha Reyes,
has a long standing tradition. All of the family spends Christmas Eve at their mother's house. They wake to McDonalds for breakfast, open their presents, which always includes new pajamas, then they all put on their new pajamas and spend the day watching holiday movies. (I may steal that pajama idea too!)
You say Potato...
Our Sales Supervisor, Craig Walker's family honors their Scottish roots, by gathering around while his father played holiday songs with his potato pipe. Now, when I googled "potato pipe", I found all sorts of interesting images, most of which would require medical permission to use, but we finally did find a photo of this unique instrument. Whew, thought I was going to have send him for a screening test.
Let's see those pearly whites
Serianna Townsend, our Service Administrator remembers going to her grandmothers house to have grilled cheese sandwiches on homemade bread and a bowl of fresh oyster chowder. The lucky ones found a pearl in their soup. That's only lucky if you don't bite down.
I'll see your Starbucks and raise you a Bed, Bath & Beyond.
Mike Randolph, our Senior Project Specialist shared that his family loves cards, dice and gambling. So they ante in their gift card loot for a rousing game of Gift Card Poker.
He's making a list, Chicken and Rice.
Our controller, Greg Willmer, shared that his family has a long tradition steeped in scarcastic humor. In his words, Christmas Eve was with his mother, and Christmas Day was at Dad's where he is still forced to eat "Chicken Crap". It seems that although everyone likes this "crap", the name has stuck. For gifts, their family does a grab bag where the adults draw names for who you are shopping for next year. These gifts always include random, "What the..." items. The family that laughs together...
What's a holiday without Football?
Our Foam supervisor, Arden Tasko, and his family play football every Christmas and crown the season with Pork and Saurkraut on New Years Day.
Here is the question of the ages?
How should you put on tinsel, in clumps or one at a time? Jim Blackmon, Project Specialist, says he remembers that every year he and his younger sister would take the recycled tinsel from the year before and throw it onto the tree in clumps. Every year, their older sister took the tinsel off and carefully placed each piece.
Pickles for Christmas morning?
My family, you ask? First the kids have to find the pickle ornament that we hide in the tree, the winner gets to open their gift first. Then we play bingo to open presents. This has completely eliminated the gift opening frenzy and extends the fun all morning and sometimes later. Finally, we play everything. (adopted after earlier frustration of finding upopened gifts a year later).
Indecent Exposure
Having been friends of the LaNue's, the owners of Lyons
Roofing, Pauls response to tradition was predictable. Fill your social calendar on Christmas Eve and then hide from the world on Christmas Day (a standing rib roast is always invited). The surprise answer comes from Rhonda who fesses up that they like to sneak out in their pajamas to see a movie. Don't worry about an awkward encounter with the scantily clad LaNues, Paul will avoid human contact at all costs.
Because it matters...
Angelique Rojas, our administrative assistant honors her ancestors by going to the cemetary each year and decorating for Christmas.
Enhanced Holiday Insurance Coverage?
Some traditions are concerning. Katherine Warwick, our Sales Specialist and Jorge Enamorado, our accounting assistant had a similar traditions, well sort of. Jorge, being of Cuban heritage, roasts a whole pig each New Years Eve, and each New Years Eve his father gets mad because "he is the one that has to clean up after the fireworks", meanwhile over in Mesa, Katherine's home is the landing spot for all the neighbors, where they also shoot fireworks, AT EACH OTHERS HOMES!
Regardless of how you spend the holidays, this we want to say for sure.
Happy Holidays and Happy New Year!