As part of a giveaway of tickets for Speedway in Lights, we asked team members to submit their favorite Christmas holiday traditions, and we received hundreds of great responses! (P.S. Ticket winners have already been informed by email.)
The submissions ranged from enjoying a big meal with family, to attending a Christmas service at church, to watching Christmas movies and decorating cookies, to telling the story of Christmas from The Bible. Attending Speedway in Lights was a big favorite, and so was playing elf on the shelf. Many people wrote about the importance of remembering family members who were part of traditions but have passed away and are now dearly missed.
Food was a big part of the holidays for most of our team members who submitted answers – everything from the traditional fare to cheeseburgers, seafood, pizza, breakfast burritos, chicken wings, cinnamon rolls and Chinese food.
One other overriding theme was pajamas: It seems A LOT of our team members receive new pajamas every year at Christmas, or make the wearing of pajamas an integral part of the holiday celebration.
Listed below are a few selections from the hundreds of submissions. Thank you to everyone who took the time to share their favorite holiday traditions; here’s hoping everyone gets to enjoy them once again, or create new ones!
My favorite Christmas tradition is our annual Christmas tree search at Frosty Mountain Christmas Tree Farm in North Carolina! We started the tradition 25 years ago with my mom and siblings and I have carried the tradition on with my husband, dogs and now two boys! It’s definitely the most wonderful time of the year!!
Erin Ricker, site supervisor, BHMA General Surgery – Greeneville
One of my favorite holiday traditions is visiting the Biltmore House in Asheville, N.C., to see the Banquet Hall Christmas tree arrive at the Biltmore. The tree is delivered to the Biltmore by a horse-drawn carriage, just the same as it was over 100 years ago! The tree is carried into the Biltmore by multiple employees and then decorated. The Biltmore is a very special place but especially at Christmas.
Vicki Elliott, Lab Services Manager, Johnston Memorial Hospital
My absolute favorite holiday tradition is custom ugly Christmas sweaters. After all the presents have been opened and all the wrapping paper, bows and ribbons are in a pile on the floor, we each pick pieces and make our own piles. We then help each other tape the pieces onto us to make a shirt and see who has the best gift-wrap sweater. Side note: I always win.
Kala Taylor, PBX Operator, Bristol Regional Medical Center
To get up before the children and place Christmas cups/saucers around the living room full of hot chocolate with marshmallows and wait for the aroma of sweetness to wake up sleepy children so they can start their day with yummy goodness.
Karen L. Gonder, corporate benefits coordinator
My favorite Christmas tradition is buying up some gift cards and getting my children to hand them out randomly to people. It really warms your heart to give a gift that is not expected. My 5-year-old just gave a Chick-Fil-A $10 card to her SRO at school. You would have thought we gave her a million dollars. Giving is a learned process that you have to practice!
La Donna Compton, lead point of care coordinator, Holston Valley Medical Center
Our favorite holiday tradition had been to choose a different country or culture to guide the menu for our family dinner. Instead of everybody bringing the same old traditional food that we just ate a month ago for Thanksgiving, we pick a different theme like Italian, Mexican, German, seafood, British, French. We also try to pick a game or gift tradition of theirs as well. It helps keep the Christmas holiday as something new to look forward to since the kids are all grown up.
Paula “Ty” Jackson, RN, Holston Valley Medical Center OR
A tradition that my family has passed down to our kids is watching the sky for Rudolph’s red nose as we drive home from a family Christmas dinner on Christmas eve. When we see a “red nose” in the sky, we point it out and even I still get just as excited as our kids do. So we’re all in a hurry to get home and go to bed since Santa is nearby. (The red nose is actually the flashing beacon of a cell tower – but still, it’s just as exciting!)
Melissa Morenings, NP, WCS Outpatient Clinic, Bristol
One of my favorite Christmas traditions for the past 27 years has been to go pack shoeboxes for Samaritan’s Purse Operation Christmas Child and then go over to Boone, N.C., with a group of friends and assist with processing the boxes.
Lynn Carmichael, physical therapist, Johnson City Medical Center
My favorite Christmas tradition is wrapping my mom’s present, along with my sister. We think all year long about what we can do make it impossible for her to get to her gift. We have done several things: put it inside multiple boxes, duct tape, plastic wrap, and even a scavenger hunt before. The look on my mom’s face when she grabs our present is priceless; she knows it is going to take forever to get into. The time I spend with my sister is even more priceless. We always laugh until we cry when wrapping my mom’s gift, and we both really need to laugh and enjoy the company.
Erica Hall, document prep specialist, Johnson City Medical Center
My favorite childhood memories always revolve around my daddy, as he was the president of the Fraternal Order of the Eagles and we would pack boxes for the less fortunate and shut-ins during the holiday season. To see the looks of pure joy when we delivered their Christmas boxes with all the goodies to make a Christmas dinner is something that is forever embedded in my heart and mind.
Donna Davidson, PBX operator, Indian Path Community Hospital
One of my favorite traditions is to get together with my second family for the holiday. We eat, exchange gifts and play some fun Christmas themed games. Last year we did blindfolded tree-decorating, partner gift-wrapping and made each other into snowmen. I can’t wait for another party with my Russell County Hospital lab family!
Kayla Meade, lab tech specialist, Russell County Hospital
