Feliz Navidad

Colleen Jones

My favorite Christmas activity is making homemade Christmas cards and gingerbread houses with my grandparents.

Sarah Johnson

Baking cookies with my mom is one of my favorite Christmas traditions. When I was a kid, she would spend days making big containers of cream wafers for everyone in our family, and I loved helping.

Rabia Sefer

My favorite Christmas activity is going to Chicago during the holiday season. I love seeing the big Christmas tree and lights, checking out the Macy’s window displays, walking around the Christkindlmarket and watching the ice skaters. It definitely puts me in a cheerful mood!

Gina Dalrymple

My favorite activity is decorating Christmas cookies with my family. We make frosting from scratch and add all kinds of sprinkles so each cookie looks unique. When we were kids, my sister and I would leave a plate out for Santa on Christmas Eve.

Bridget Goedke

Baking with my mom on the day before Christmas Eve is a standout part of the holiday season to me. I really enjoy spending that quality time together and learning from her. We always make the same recipes, but the sugar cookies are my favorite. I am looking forward to continuing that tradition with my own home.

Jasper & Molly

Molly – My favorite Christmas memory is when my mom was making cookies and left an entire 5-pound bag of chocolate chips on the counter just for me. Chocolate is my favorite, so I couldn’t help but eat the entire bag before anyone noticed. It gave me a bellyache, but my mom took care of that. She took me to a doggy spa for a couple of days. Everyone there was so nice to me. I got my belly rubbed, I ate chicken at every meal, and I got to go on walks almost every hour. The best part was that I didn’t have to share anything with my little brother, Jasper. My mom was super happy to see me when she picked me up, but I don’t know why she doesn’t make chocolate chip cookies anymore. I still love chocolate!

Jasper – Every year around Christmas, a little red toy with a pointy hat appears. Each morning, my family searches for it, and whoever finds it first is the winner. My favorite memory is of one morning when I was the first one to see the toy. I had fun playing keep away. Everyone was chasing me and trying to pet me—it was a great time. I’m not sure why they started putting the toy too high up for me to play along, because it’s the best game ever.

Hannah Trivette

My favorite childhood memory of Christmas is driving around to look at the Christmas lights with my parents and siblings. Seeing the twinkling, colorful lights was magical, and it’s why my husband and I continued the tradition with our kids. We’d drink hot chocolate as we drove around and viewed the Christmas lights. The memory is probably also a reason why my Christmas decorations are up on November 1st.

Mary Ellen Trump

Favorite memory is my family’s tradition of making homemade waffles on Christmas morning. My grandma used to make them, and now my dad is in charge of it.

Abby Markowski

My favorite Christmas memory is probably when my dad would dress up as Santa on Christmas Eve. My sister and I would hear the doorbell ring, and we would run to the door to find Santa dropping off some presents. My mom and dad always made Christmas so magical, and that was one of those times that I’ll always remember.

Tiffany Aguilera

My favorite memory as a child is, coming in from building a snowman with my sisters and hanging our wet socks on the fireplace. Mom always had hot chocolate ready.

Ellie Barrett

Every year, my mother, grandmother, siblings, and I trek up to Macy’s in Chicago to drink hot chocolate in the Walnut Room and get a wish from the Christmas faieries. We then each pick an ornament to decorate our ‘Walnut Room Day’ tree at my family home. All of that is made up of ornaments. Spending the day with them and seeing all of the gorgeous decorations and ornaments brings me so much joy!