Who Is Getting Ready for the Holidays This Year?

Ho Ho Ho! Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays GiGi’s Playhouse NYC!

There are a lot of great holidays to celebrate in December 2024. For example, National Christmas Card Day, National Cookie Exchange Day, Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, Hanukkah, New Year’s Eve, and so many more days are celebrated in December this year.

National Christmas Card Day is celebrated on Monday, December 9th this year, and a lot of people celebrate the occasion in a lot of different ways. For example, on this day people like to send and receive Christmas cards to express goodwill and love. There are several things you can do to prepare for this holiday. One of the first things to prepare is updating your mailing list. You also have to gather the stamps and pick out your favorite cards. It’s important to leave yourself plenty of time to write out cards to all your loved ones, especially if you plan on writing personalized notes to everyone. You can also make your own cards. This requires even more time. I am planning on writing handmade Christmas cards for people and extended family by mailing them out early December.

National Cookie Exchange Day is celebrated on Sunday, December 22nd this year, and a lot of people celebrate the occasion in a lot of ways. On this day, people like to bake their favorite cookies, or try new recipes. A cookie exchange is a party where your friends or family all come with a box of their favorite cookies. Often they will bring the recipe on printed cards so friends can try to bake the cookies later at home. I am planning on baking cookies for my neighborhood as gifts. I went to my classmate’s holiday party earlier this month. He organized a cookie exchange and a light tour through his neighborhood. It was a lot of fun, and I got to try several new cookies and make new friends with students in other years at Molloy University. I made chocolate chip cookies to share, and my favorites that I tried there were the chocolate chip M&M cookies and the lemon cookies that my friends made.

Christmas Eve is celebrated on Tuesday, December 24th this year. A lot of people celebrate Christmas Eve in many ways. For example, people go to church services, including candlelight services or midnight mass. Some people have a tradition of reading the account of Jesus’s birth from the Book of Luke. It is very popular to put out milk and cookies for Santa Claus. On Christmas Eve I am planning on going out with my family and catering a big dinner for everyone to eat at my Aunt Katherine’s house. I’m hoping that we order a sushi platter as part of our Christmas Eve dinner. I also hope to go to the cemetery on this day to visit my beloved grandmother (Thank you for the memories, and I miss your pasta and peas.), Peter’s brother, Yionni, and his grandmother, Libby. May they rest in heavenly peace.

Christmas Day is celebrated on Wednesday, December 25th this year, and a lot of people celebrate Christmas in a lot of different ways. This is another popular day to attend church to recognize the Christmas season and the birth of Jesus Christ. People also decorate their homes with Christmas trees, lights, ornaments, and wreaths and exchange gifts with family and friends. This is a big day to feast. People prepare and enjoy a special meal, such as roast turkey or ham. Singing Christmas carols, watching classic holiday movies and TV specials, and donating money to charity are also popular Christmas traditions. This year for Christmas I am planning on going out with my family for a meal. I am also planning on spending the day with Sophia and Peter including their family.

Hanukkah is celebrated on Thursday, December 26th this year, and a lot of people celebrate the occasion in a lot of ways including lighting the menorah. The central act of Hanukkah is lighting the hanukkiah or menorah, an eight-branched candelabrum. Each night, one more candle is lit until all eight are lit on the final night. The menorah is often placed somewhere it can be seen from outside to symbolize spreading God’s light. On Hanukkah, people often eat traditional foods, such as latkes (potato pancakes) and sufganiyot (jelly doughnuts). I like both those foods.

New Year’s Eve is celebrated on Tuesday, December 31st this year, and a lot of people celebrate the holiday in a lot of different ways. For example, hosting a party is a popular tradition. These parties often extend into the night and even into dawn of January 1st. Another popular activity is watching the iconic ball in NYC drop, a tradition that began in 1907. Millions of people watch the ball drop on TV, and hundreds of thousands gather in Times Square to watch it live. I have a lot of resolutions for the new year in 2025. They include having peace and quiet with Peter Colombos on dates, working out at the gym twice a week, eating a lot more fruits, vegetables, protein, and avocados with meals, eating more of my father’s food, looking for a part time job with AHRC on the weekends, eating more salads with meals, eating more yogurts for dinner at night, going for walks twice a week, going out to the movies more frequently, and going for walks with family friends.

Wishing everyone a wonderful time of the year.

Are you being nice or naughty? Santa Claus is watching everyone.

See you all in January 2025 with another blog post.

Until then, please feel free to share with me your favorite holiday traditions and your New Year’s resolutions!

Love,
Fatima