Happy Thanksgiving! As I am reflecting on the past year, I want to take this opportunity to say thank you to the wonderful blogging community! Your blog posts and articles have expanded my worldview, made me smile, or made me want to dive deeper on an interesting topic. Keep doing what you’re doing because it matters! I am also thankful for every moment you’ve spent visiting my blog and engaging with my posts. Enjoy the holiday!

Speaking of which, the following is my response to the daily prompt: How do you celebrate holidays?

On New Year’s Day, we eat 12 grapes

When the clock strikes midnight, we eat 12 grapes and make a wish for each of the 12 months in the new year. Then we give each other a hug and a kiss, then call relatives to wish them a happy new year.

My birthday, my treat

Usually, when it’s your birthday, your friends and family treat you to a celebratory meal, right? In my family, if it’s your birthday and you want to celebrate, you invite people to lunch or dinner and you pay! (Perhaps this is another reason not to want to get older?) Also, for my birthday, I like to have a margarita at my favorite Mexican restaurant.

First Day of School

While technically not a holiday, my family marks the annual milestone with a picture at the front door. I’d have my daughters pose holding up the number of fingers corresponding to the grade they’re entering. (My younger daughter is currently a junior in high school. She got creative and held up both index fingers for 11th grade!)

Halloween

If Halloween falls on a school night, we go trick-or-treating for one hour. Then we go home, sort the candy, and keep half of it. The other half we leave out in a bowl for trick-or-treaters who come by the house. That way, we enjoy only half the calories and half the sugar!

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday. I write in a gratitude journal each day, so I enjoy the holiday that allows me to practice gratefulness out loud. Thanksgiving Day is usually a potluck with family and I normally contribute a homemade green bean casserole and a store-bought pumpkin pie. We watch reruns of shows, like Friends, all day then do karaoke all night.

Christmas is celebrated on December 24

We have dinner, sing karaoke, then go to “Midnight” Mass, which is usually from 10-11pm. After Mass, we eat panettone, then open presents. Christmas Day is spent sleeping in and eating leftovers from Christmas Eve!

How my holiday traditions are evolving

When my daughters were younger, we’d see The Nutcracker during their winter school break. As they got older, we stopped going to the ballet as their interests changed to other fun winter activities, like making parols (Filipino ornamental lanterns) or ice skating.

ice skating at Justin Herman Plaza in San Francisco (2010)

This past Halloween, my husband and I volunteered at the local food bank. We helped bag apples and set up empty bags on the assembly line for fellow volunteers to fill with packages of dry foods, like pasta, rice, and beans. It always feels good to volunteer anytime during the year, but I’d like to make it a family tradition to support food bank efforts during the holiday season.

Alameda County Community Food Bank in Oakland, California (October 2025)

Another custom I’d like to adopt is the Icelandic tradition of having a jólabókaflóðið, or Yule Book Flood. I love the idea of exchanging books on Christmas Eve and then spending the night reading them while drinking hot beverages. Sounds so cozy!

Tell me in the comments below: What are some of your family’s holiday traditions?

Thanks for reading Bonjour: A Francophile Blog!