Staff share time-honored traditions

Christmas is a time to enjoy with friends and family, and many of us have treasured traditions we enjoy. Enjoy learning more about how some of our staff members celebrate:

"Our family always opens one present on Christmas eve, typically a book or an outfit for Midnight Mass. We always have tamales for dinner, then we open the present, then go to mass. After mass, when we were younger, my three siblings and myself would all ‘sleep’ in the same room, but really we just stayed up really late/early until we knew Santa had come. Our parents typically found us asleep by our Santa gift when they finally got out of bed." - Chelsea Watgen, director of sales and marketing

"Our family celebrates birthdays early in the morning with cake for breakfast. This started when our children were little and has become a fun tradition in our home. For Christmas morning, we celebrate Christ’s birth by eating Jesus cake! The cake itself is nothing fancy, butter recipe yellow box cake mix with chocolate fudge icing.

"A few years ago, we found a cross cake pan, so now the cake is always made in this design. What makes this special is the time we spend together on Christmas Eve preparing and decorating this cake as a family (the kids love adding the sprinkles ... LOTS of sprinkles, ha). We then enjoy it Christmas morning before anything else and spend time talking about Jesus and God’s great love for us. We love this family tradition!" - Heather Pilkinton, executive director

"For me and my kids, we wear matching or themed pajamas to bed Christmas Eve." - Laura Ortiz, activity director

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