The top 5 favorite holiday activities were...
1. Holiday parties with friends and family
2. Spending time with relatives
3. Looking at Christmas lights
4. Decorating the house for the holidays.
5. White Elephant Exchange or Secret Santa
What are your favorite traditions with your friends and family?
"My favorite holiday tradition is decorating the Christmas tree with the kids, watching a LOT of Christmas movies with my family, baking cookies, going to see the Christmas lights around town."
"Love spending Christmas Eve with my family, we go to Chinatown for dinner every year in Downtown LA, and have made it a tradition with our close family friends."
"I love going over to my family member's houses and making meals and eating together. We usually will sit around and talk and play games which is great. If you are old enough, we usually try out new holiday alcoholic beverages too."
"On Christmas Eve, my mom gets a loaf of sourdough bread and cuts it a special way and puts cheese on top and bakes it. It's super yummy and always great to share as a family."
"Every year as a family we decorate the tree and my mom goes through each of our ornaments and when we got them. It's like a timeline of my past!"
"We do Christmas Eve boxes, and we get pajamas, cocoa, a mug, and a Christmas movie inside of it. Then, we make the hot cocoa, put on the PJs, and watch the Christmas movies together."
"I always love my friend's secret Santa and white elephant gift exchanges!"
"My boyfriend and I always do a "12 dates of Christmas."
How connected do you feel around those around you during the holidays?
"I feel like Christmas brings people together. Once, when my dad and I were out grocery shopping, this random stranger helped us get all of our bags into our car when he saw how much we had, and all he said when we thanked him was "Merry Christmas"."
"I feel very connected to people around me around the holidays. My extended family doesn't really get together very often, but we always do on holidays, and it is just like we picked up where we have left off."
"Everyone always seems to have a smile on their face, the season of "joy" is reflected on everyone. I wish the entire year could be filled with this "joy" that the holidays bring but then it wouldn't be as special."
"I feel extremely connected! It's the season that puts everyone in a giving and loving mood. It reminds me of how appreciative I am of everything I have."
"I feel so at home being with my family and friends during the holiday season, it brings me back to my childhood."
"I feel really connected because it's a special time of the year to spend with your friends and family."
Why do you think the holidays are important?
"I think the holidays are important because it feels like everyone can forget about their differences and just enjoy the time together and be grateful for what that have."
"It's a good time to reconnect if connections are lost throughout the year and to remind your family how loved they are."
"Even if you don't see your family for most of the year you can usually depend on the holidays as the one or two times per year that you will get the opportunity. Sometimes that is good and sometimes it is bad depending on your family but it keeps a connection going."
"The holidays are a time to come together with friends and family and celebrate your blessings. It's important to take time to do that. Religious holidays are important because they are a time to reflect on your beliefs and grow deeper in them."
"To celebrate the Lord Jesus Christ and to spend time with your loved ones. To also forget all of the bad things going on in the world around you for a short while and focus on all of the fun, beauty, and joy of this time of year."
"First and foremost for me, it's about celebrating the true reason behind the holiday - the birth of Jesus. It's also a time to show the ones you love how much they mean to you, whether that is giving your time, visiting, giving a gift, or sending a card. Making memories and traditions with your children that will go on to their own families one day."
"The holidays are important because they give hope. To small children and even to adults it means hope for happiness, hope for a break, hope for family."
"When we're all going around living our lives, we might be hundreds of miles from our nearest family member, but we always come back together every year and enjoy each other's company like no time has passed at all. The holidays remind us that we still have a family and people who love us in this world, even if we don't see them every day. They remind us of what love feels like."
