With the stresses of everyday life, it’s nice to come home to your family and friends and slip into the comfortable traditions that make the holidays such a wonderful time. The holidays are a time of reflection and tradition, and it’s often sharing these traditions with family that make for the most special and memorable occasions. That’s why our team at Ketubah.com wants to share our family traditions with you, and hear from you about yours! Here are a few words from our team about our favorite holiday traditions.

Nava, Production Coordinator

To celebrate Chanukah, Nava’s family hosts a big family potluck with all of the in-town relatives. Each member of her family lights their own Menorah.

Some people like to get there Sufganiyot (jelly-filled donuts) fix as soon as it’s socially acceptable, but Nava’s family waits for the reviews to come in first, so they can scope out the best bakery in town and get a bunch of different falvours to try. Between that and Latkes, they cover all of the big holiday traditions in their own unique way to make each year a memorable one.

Nancy, Production and Shipping

Nancy’s family celebrates the holiday with some popular Chilean Christmas dishes. Pan de Pascua is a bold and nutty rum-spiced fruit cake, which pairs perfectly with Cola de Mono, a rich and creamy holiday beverage with cloves, cinnamon, nutmeg, and rum. Basically, all the good stuff. You can find the Pan de Pascua recipe here, and the Cola de Mono recipe here. I know I’ll definitely be giving both a try!

Tani, Director of Operations

What better way to celebrate Chanukah than with dancing? After lighting the candles, Tani’s family has a dance party – talk about eight crazy nights!

Bracha, Social Media Manager

Every year, on the 5th night of Chanukah , Bracha’s family has a tradition to host a big party for all of their family and friends. Instead of getting gifts throughout Chanukah, they open their presents on the fifth night. Homemade Potato latkes are the best, so they all help out with making them and enjoy putting delicious toppings on them. Bringing everyone together brings a feeling of warmth and coziness throughout the holidays.

Aliza, Production Artist

One of Aliza’s favourite holiday traditions is her family’s Annual Donut Taste Test. Every Chanukah, they visit many of the local bakeries and choose a few of their new and unique flavors. They bake some of our own donuts, too, and after lighting the Menorah, they turn on some music and taste their donuts! Each family member rates and reviews the donuts and the bakeries and then vote on the winner. After the taste testing, they can’t look at any more donuts for a long time, but it’s worthwhile- as they always have a ton of fun!

Romina, Production and Shipping

Traditionally, Argentineans get together with their family and friends on Christmas. They take part in the rituals, sing carols and carry out religious services. Christmas dinner is served and normally includes a grilled meat dish called ‘Parrillada Argentina’. Romina’s family will decorate the Christmas tree with flowers, lace, balls and candles. It’s also traditional to visit friends and relatives, and carry on the festivities until Three Kings day on January 6, the last day of the Christmas season.

Carmit, Cross-Functional Growth Specialist

Carmit’s Hebrew birthday falls on the fifth night of Chanukah , and her wedding anniversary is not far behind, followed by her kids’ birthdays early in January. So usually Chanukah is the gateway to celebrations, cooking, baking and gifts… in other words a whole month of chaos! They enjoy the usual activities of making Sufganiyot (which are a huge success), latkes (which are a huge disaster), arranging the colours of the candles for the next night (only to discover they needed the broken ones for the new pattern), listening to Chanukah  parody songs and playing games with the family.

Ari, Cross-Functional Growth Expert

For the past several years, Ari’s family has had a holiday gift-exchange. They’ll plan it out a month in advance and draw names for everyone’s “secret Maccabee” and think of exciting ways to wrap and give the presents. They get together with everyone and watch as they open the gifts, and once everyone’s gone, take turns trying to figure out who gave who which gift. Sometimes, people will include tricky poems explaining why they got them that gift, which is a great way of adding personality and creativity to the event! But apart from the fun of giving, receiving, and the subsequent guessing, the best part is how the tradition has grown from year to year. It started as just his immediate family, but quickly expanded to include the extended family and significant others. Sharing this tradition with others helps it feel even more special!

No matter what you celebrate, this is a great time of year to come together with family and friends, wrapped in the warmth of holiday traditions. What are some of your favorites? Get in touch with us on Instagram and share some of your favorite holiday traditions!