When I think of the holiday season, I picture: hot cocoa on a snowy night, cheery carolers, frantic retail environments, sweet treats in abundant supply… and my family’s weird and wacky Christmas traditions (we do “Shotzee Yahtzee”…I’ll explain later).
For every family, there is a unique set of holiday traditions; some old, some new. Here is a collection of some of our favorite holiday customs—both classic and insane—from the families of our My Scratch Offs team!
The Christmas Pickle
The Christmas Pickle. Our Customer Service Representative, Kristy, tells us that her family never celebrates Christmas without the pickle! First youngin’ to find the pickle wins a special gift.
Scratch Off Swap
Ahhh, the ever-popular holiday tradition of swapping lotto scratchers! In my family, no Christmas comes and goes without our fair share of holiday goodie exchanges. One staple favorite is lotto scratch off tickets. This year, we are trying something new and playing Scratch Off Bingo! I’m particularly excited about this because we know that we have a guaranteed “winner”…it’s always a bummer to play a million scratchers and not even swing a “Free Ticket”!
“Shotzee Yahtzee”
Every Christmas, my extended family on my father’s side celebrates the joy of the season by playing a very spirited game of Yahtzee (my late grandmother’s all-time favorite game!). As customary for any Italian family, we also enjoy a wealth of adult beverages at every gathering. As they say, one thing leads to another and over time, our annual Yahtzee throwdown has now morphed into “Shotzee Yahtzee.” Any time someone rolls a full house or better…we take a drink. Any time someone rolls a Yahtzee…we take a shot. You get the gist!
The 25 Days of Puzzle
Karen, our Owner and fearless leader, shares that her family always completes a holiday puzzle project. At the start of each holiday season, they choose a new jigsaw challenge and work together throughout the entire season with the goal of finishing their project by Christmas day!
The Ever-Expanding Personalized Ornament Collection
The ever-expanding ornament collection is a steadfast tradition for Kendra, our Production Assistant, and her family. Kendra says that the tradition started long before she was born and every (yes, EVERY!) person to ever attend their family celebration gets to decorate and personalize an ornament and add it to the Christmas tree. Ornaments are added over time, but once you hang your ornament it becomes a permanent part of their family’s collection! As the ornament collection grows, so grows the tree. What a fun recap of Christmases past?!
Within every family, there is a myriad of weird and wonderful holiday traditions, both old and new. Now that we have shared some of our favorite time-honored family traditions, it’s your turn to share some of your own. Comment below or share with us Facebook. We wanna know…what’s your most fun and festive holiday family tradition?
