What are your favorite holiday traditions?
A few festive ideas to inspire new rituals this season
Not going to lie: I spent a solid few hours feverishly browsing gift guides and Black Friday deals the other night. The ideal holiday party pants that are never on sale? Colorful print dress that I can wear to that 2025 beach wedding for 30% off? I have no regrets (I maintain a rigorous wishlist so my shopping was very focused), but I did have to start a spreadsheet to track my return dates…
If, like me, you could use a bit of a palate cleanser, I think you’ll love today’s letter. I reached out to some of my favorite Substack authors to chat holiday traditions. These are women who embody what the season is about to me: warmth, gathering, ritual, and coziness. Here’s what they told me about the traditions they’re looking forward to most…
Feast of seven fishes
How deliciously decadent does this sound? of has the tradition for seafood-lovers. Btw, you need to read her Thanksgiving primer before Thursday.
“My Italian-American mother-in-law first introduced me to the feast of seven fishes when my husband and I were still dating, and now it's become a tradition to host our friends on Christmas Eve.
Basically, you create a dinner with at least seven types of fish! We typically do oysters on the half shell, blinis with smoked salmon and caviar, lobster salad, baked clams, shrimp cocktail, and uni served on shiso leaf. It is always a really fun night that finishes with a game of Celebrity.”
Christmas Eve fondue
I’d love an invite to of ’s fancy family fondue dinner.
“Our Christmas Eve tradition is a big fondue dinner with family and friends. My mom sets a beautiful table and we sit down for a cheese course, a meat course, and a chocolate dessert course. I love gathering with everyone and reflecting on the year over a long and lively meal.”
Thanksgiving morning bagel brunch
This is such a sweet way to kick off Thanksgiving morning, from ’s .
“My favorite holiday tradition is the casual bagel & lox brunch we always have with my grandparents on Thanksgiving morning — just early enough that we’ll be able to work up an appetite again by (a 4 p.m.) dinner. My grandfather ("Poppop") is 90 years old, but he still loves being in the kitchen. His specialty is a lox scramble with peppers and onions. This year, my two-year-old son is finally old enough to enjoy ‘helping’ in the kitchen, and I’m so grateful they’ll get to spend that time together.”
A holiday crafting party
Founder of Loeffler Randall , who writes , hosts the cutest get-together with friends. Immediately texted this idea to the girls…
“I love to host my girlfriends to a holiday crafting party. Last year, I decided to teach everyone to make some ribbon holiday ornaments. These were simple ideas I found tutorials for online. I bought a bunch of different pretty ribbons and we all got to working. It makes everyone so happy to work with their hands, and you leave the party with a festive keepsake.”
Secret Santa with college friends
This longstanding tradition of author from ’s sounds wonderfully cozy and special. (Also, should we all make reading Becca’s novel, The Christmas Orphans Club, a holiday tradition, too?)
“Every year my closest group of friends from college does a big secret Santa. I'm talking people fly in for it, the whole thing takes on a nostalgic sleepover quality. It's great because you go all out on a gift for one person instead of doing small gifts for 7 people. The gifts are usually a mix of silly and serious — a few years ago I wound up with a Christmas ornament of Nicholas Cage's face and a live reading of a poem my secret Santa wrote in my honor.”
White elephant with the family
Dulan Wine founder ’s family keeps it funny and festive with a white elephant exchange.
“My family and I always do a white elephant exchange on Christmas night with a low price limit of $25. There’s about 20 of us, we get creative on the gifts, and we all fight over them. One of my cousins and I usually make a pact and will steal for each other :) it’s such a fun and funny way for our family to bond and laugh!”
Gifting meaningful ornaments
How thoughtful is of ’s annual gifting ritual?
“My favorite tradition is giving ornaments to my friends and family — I spend months combing stores to find ones that represent a key memory or moment from the year. It's such a lovely (and relatively low-cost) way to show someone how much you know and love them. For example, last year my fiancé released his first song, so I got him a custom ornament from Etsy with the song name, its release date, and his record label art printed on it.”
Starting our own holiday traditions
of says, “I love the idea of holiday traditions — and reading those of others! — but the truth is that my family doesn't have many traditions. We stopped getting a tree when I went to college, and no longer exchange gifts, but we do watch ‘It’s a Wonderful Life’ every year on Christmas Eve. I prefer to watch it on NBC, ubiquitous ad breaks and all, for the *real* experience. That being said, I'm determined to get a Christmas tree this year, so I'm in the process of brewing some new traditions of my own!”
Like Leslie’s, my family had few traditions. We were never big into the holidays when I was growing up. Our Christmases involved going to a buffet to eat our weight in crab legs one year and then skiiing the next because the crowds were thinner that day. (Both classic Asian immigrant moves, I might add.)
As I’ve gotten older, I’ve started trying to make some annual holiday magic of my own: exchanging ornaments with my husband, dressing up in black tie for the Nutcracker, and going to afternoon tea in the New Year with girlfriends.
Some of my favorite traditions are small and simple things that bring a disproportionate amount of cheer, like baking chocolate chip cookies while decorating the tree and photographing our dogs in their funny Christmas sweaters.
What are the traditions you’re looking forward to this year? Whether it’s an annual community service day or a gingerbread house pajama party with your kids… I can’t wait to hear what’s bringing you joy this holiday season.
This was such a great read, thank you for writing about something completely unrelated to gift guides (they’re great, I am not trying to be a grinch!! I am just too overwhelmed to read them rn hahah) that was so sweet and personal for everyone. And made me think about the traditions in my own home with a new eye 💗💗 also crab leg buffet sounds like THE move honestly!
I have to try the ornament craft! Soooo cute!