Christmas favorites

This year, I asked our SBTC staff members to relate a favorite Christmas tradition or memory. Food entered heavily into the results but some of the stories are evocative. Here they are, in the words of your SBTC staff. By the way, my own favorite is Christmas Eve in Arkansas. We attend a service at our home church (the best 57 minutes of the church year) and then eat pizza from Mellow Mushroom. Perfect! GL

Stephanie Barksdale, communications assistant—Driving around to look at Christmas lights!

Barry Calhoun, missional ministries director—Putting up the Christmas tree, having family members over for dinner and watching football.

Sharayah Colter, communications assistant—For as long as I can remember, one day after having as non-traditional Thanksgiving meal as possible (steak, enchiladas, etc.), we have cranked up the CITGO Country Christmas cassette on the stereo, pulled the well-worn Christmas boxes from the attic and set up the tree while sipping Mom’s [delicious] hot apple cider. Moving across the country every two years, this scene has played out in 90-degree, sunny Arizona, Christmas-postcard-perfect up-state New York and about 15 other places in between—even multiple times in the Residence Inn between moves. The necessity of being flexible has produced the tradition of purposefully unique celebrations each year.

Jesse Contreras, language ministries associate—We like to open our gifts at midnight on Christmas Eve, but a few minutes before that time we have the kids go to a room and wait to hear Santa’s “Ho! Ho! Ho!” and reindeer bells. Afterwards we let them come out of the room and open their presents.

Easter Cooley, operations and finance assistant—I make decorated Christmas sugar cookies with my son. He is now 13 and we still look forward to doing it together.  It’s something I did with my mother and sometimes when I visit her in Houston, we get all the stuff out to make Christmas cookies together.

Terry Coy, missions director—A relatively new tradition in our family is for our oldest granddaughter (10) to read the Luke 2 Nativity story on Christmas Eve. We look forward to expanding that tradition to include the other grandkids as they get older.

Joe Davis, operations and finance director—Telling my kids, “No we won’t open one gift on Christmas Eve.” It’s a tradition that they ask and I decline.

Kelley Edwards, missions assistant—My favorite Christmas tradition: Every year on Christmas Eve morning, my mom gets up super early and goes to get our family chocolate sprinkled donuts, then we open presents with our immediate family, then go eat a steak dinner. Not the most spiritual part of our day, but it sure is good! After all, we are Baptists—we like to eat.  

Chris Enright, operations and finance associate—It’s a tie—reading Luke 2 before bed on Christmas Eve or our pj, lights and caroling evening. After dinner in the week leading up to Christmas, we change into comfy pajamas, grab a favorite hot beverage (cocoa or cider) and drive around looking at Christmas lights and strategically caroling a few houses along the way. Family fun and bonding!

Ashlee Garcia, operations and finance assistant—My favorite tradition involves spending Christmas Eve with my childhood best friend and her family. Our families always got together over homemade pasta and cream puffs (they are Italian). After dinner my friend’s grandma would read the Christmas story from Luke 2. Last year Grandma Lib was too sick to read the Christmas story. There was not a dry eye in the house when her oldest son sat in her chair and read the Christmas story in her absence.

Denis Hammit, SBTC Foundation—Since I gave my life to Christ in 2001,  I have started a little personal tradition that I have not really spoken of publicly before.  I find a few minutes to go outside or just find a place to be alone with the Savior and say thanks for what he did by coming to earth in the form of man and dying to save my life. The simple joy of remembering what this season is all about and watching as one of my grandchildren read the Christmas story from Luke’s Gospel are my new favorite traditions.

Karla Hammit, SBTC Foundation—A tradition that I doubt many others have experienced is my grandmother preparing the dough for homemade egg noodles, rolling the dough in a long, tight roll, wrapping it in paper and storing it in the refrigerator until time for cooking.  In the hour just before cooking, my grandmother would call all the kids to the kitchen table and as she cut the rolled dough into quarter inch slices each of us kids would carefully unroll the sections so that each noodle was ready to dropped in the pot for cooking.  Ummmmm.

Shawn Kemp, missions facilitator—Definitely my family’s favorite Christmas tradition is when we all go shopping to fill our Operation Christmas Child shoeboxes. It reminds us of how blessed we are as a family. We also love praying for the children who receive the shoeboxes to come to know Christ.

Tammi Ledbetter, communications facilitator—My favorite tradition is one we began with our oldest and continued with each year, involving each child in making the dough, cutting, baking and decorating the cookies for a Nativity scene. We did this with our family, involved our church friends in Indiana one year, our homeschool group another, our church plant in Missouri and most recently our new pastor’s kids who had just moved to our town. I have a set reserved for each of my kids to receive when each produces a grandchild who can make, cut, bake and decorate—never too early to start passing down memories.

Fallon Lee, minister/church relations assistant—My extended family always gathers at one house on Christmas Eve to exchange gifts, play “White Elephant,” monitor the Santa Clause tracker, and of course, eat!  An even more unfailing tradition though (and running family joke), is that my sweet grandma will be the very last person to arrive, as she has inevitably spent the day running around like a mad woman trying to find last-minute gifts.

Steve Maltempi, evangelism associate—Our tradition involves eating seafood (gumbo, fried, broiled, boiled, baked) on Christmas Eve.

John McGuire, field ministry strategist—I am the oldest of five children born into the home of a Southern Baptist pastor. Our parents would awaken us before daylight every Christmas. We would gather in a circle and my father would read from the Bible about the birth of Christ. He would teach us that every gift in life comes from God, and that his son was the best gift of all. Then he would pray and we would begin to open our presents.

Bruno Molina, evangelism associate—Gathering the extended family around the Christmas Eve dinner table (the aromas of roast pork shoulder, Caribbean empanadas, rice, beans and fried ripe plantains wafting about and prayerfully giving thanks for the incarnation of Christ—not to mention the meal!

Heath Peloquin, minister/church relations director—My favorite family Christmas tradition is having all our family members share what they are most thankful for each year before we exchange gifts. To hear the children share their moments and memories, and to hear the wisdom of older family members share is priceless to our family each year.

Joe Perkins, field ministry strategist—We get together with our grown children and their families to eat, open presents and just enjoy being together. We emphasize that it is Jesus’ birthday.

Andrea Preissler, SBTC Foundation—On Christmas Eve, our family let each person open one gift and it was always pajamas.  Then we read “The Night Before Christmas” and Luke chapter 2.

Jim Richards, executive director—At some point during our Christmas family time, we read the Luke 2 account of Jesus’ birth and pray together.

Emily Smith, church ministries associate—Having my grandmother’s deer steak as the main dish—yes I’m from Arkansas!  Also playing dirty Santa gift exchange … always interesting to see which popular present will be stolen the most and watching my relatives’ reaction when it happens. 

Judy Van Hooser, church ministries associate—Mine would be the fact that we get up Christmas morning, open just a few gifts—one by one—and then stop to eat dinner. Then we do the dishes, get everything cleaned up, and finish opening gifts. We do not usually finish until around 7 or 8 pm—so it is an all-day event! 

Mark Yoakum, church ministries director—When I grew up they were bright red stockings looking like Santa Claus boots. Each person in the family had his name on the stocking and stockings stayed empty until Christmas morning when we all awoke to find them stuffed to the brim.  My kids and grandkids look forward to Christmas morning and emptying their stockings.