Gifts, lights, and so much food: Stanford staff share their holiday traditions
More than 15,000 people support teaching, learning, research, and core operations at Stanford year-round. Here, staff members share details about how they celebrate the end of the year.
Whether cracking open cooked crabs, lighting candles, or making tamales, the Stanford staff community enjoys a wide array of traditions during this time of year.
More than 15,000 people work at the university and support teaching, learning, research, and core operations at Stanford year-round.
Stanford Report gathered some of their personal end-of-the-year traditions to share with the community here:
Alana Argueta, Cardinal Sage sous chef at Stern Dining, Residential & Dining Enterprises:
Alana Argueta, Cardinal Sage sous chef at Stern Dining, has fond memories of playing loteria with her family on Christmas Eve. (Image credit: Courtesy Alana Argueta)
In addition to a passion for cooking and food, I have a great love of Christmas. I have many family-focused holiday traditions. A few days before Christmas, my family gathers from as far as southern California and Mexico. We work together to make four varieties of tamales, including sweet fillings of pineapple, strawberry, and blackberry with cheese. In the evening, my dad lights a fire pit in the backyard, where we reminisce about the past and share our hopes for the new year. Christmas Eve is centered on fun and togetherness, when our family eats good food, listens to ranchera and salsa music, sings karaoke, watches family Christmas videos, and plays loteria (a traditional game of chance, like bingo) late into the night. On Christmas Day, we share more good food and enjoy a warm spiced ponche, which takes eight hours to prepare.
Jessica Kirschner, rabbi, Office for Religious and Spiritual Life:
Rabbi Jessica Kirschner gathers with her family each year for the ritual of lighting candles in the hanukkiah, which is placed in the window of their home. (Image credit: Courtesy Jessica Kirschner)
Hanukkah is the Jewish festival of light, celebrating the rededication of the Temple in Jerusalem more than 2000 years ago. It has themes of fidelity to Jewish faith and community, courage, light, and miracles. Holiday foods are fried (yum!) to commemorate the story of consecrated oil that lasted eight days. My favorite is latkes (fried potato pancakes made by Ashkenazi Jews), but my kids prefer the sufganiyot (filled donuts) which have become increasingly popular in Israel.
For my daughters right now (ages 5 and 7), eight nights of presents is pretty exciting, but this is a practice that has more to do with the calendar convergence of Hanukkah coming at the same time of year as Christmas, whose cultural and commercial dominance are hard to compete with. In an environment of such abundance, it’s challenging to remind them that we are blessed to have more than enough already, so we try to keep the gifts low-key and make sure some nights are focused on giving to others.
I hope the experience that really sticks with them is the ritual of lighting candles in the hanukkiah. We light an increasing number each night, and put our hanukkiah in the window of our house. I treasure that image of casting light into the darkness, and of proudly sharing who we are with our neighbors. We hope that our children always take pride in this too, and keep bringing more light into the world.
Lalita du Perron, associate director for Center for South Asia:
Lalita du Perron, associate director for the Center for South Asia, said growing up in The Netherlands, children would receive chocolate in the shape of the first letter of their name, marzipan in the shape of fruit, and other treats. (Image credit: Andrew Brodhead)
I grew up in The Netherlands, where we have our own version of Christmas, celebrated on Dec. 5. The history of the holiday is complicated and has connections to slavery, something that has been the subject of increased scrutiny in Holland. The essence of the holiday is that Sinterklaas (cognate with Santa Claus) visits homes on the night of Dec. 5, giving presents to children who are deemed to have been “good.” Part of the fun is that often presents are wrapped up in a way to disguise them, and people write fun little poems along with the gifts. Lots of candy is associated with the holiday! We get chocolate in the shape of the first letter of our name, marzipan in the shape of fruit, and many other goodies. While ensuring aspects of the tradition are appropriately critiqued, I nevertheless enjoy keeping this Dutch family tradition going in the USA.
Luisa Rapport, director, Emergency Communications and Media Relations:
During the holidays, Luisa Rapport, director of Emergency Communications and Media Relations, spends two days making Sicilian cucidati cookies. (Image credit: Courtesy Luisa Rapport)
I was newly married when my husband introduced me to a decades-old Italian delicatessen in San Jose that served his favorite cookies – a soft buttery cookie filled with a sticky sweet fig, fruit, and nut mixture, topped with a thin citrus spiked glaze. It didn’t take long for my baking curiosity to get the best of me and now, years later, Sicilian cucidati cookies are our family holiday staple – and a regular request from friends and family. Every December, I set out on the two-day process of making the cookies, thinking of the rich Italian heritage that once defined San Jose, and my adoration for Italian food and traditions. This year, in the most wonderfully unexpected turn of events, I’ll be bringing my batch of cucidati to the very place they originated – to celebrate the Christmas holiday with friends in Sicily … I hope they stand up to the original!
Chris Rasmussen, policy and procedure development for Department of Public Safety:
Chris Rasmussen, policy and procedure development for the Department of Public Safety, gathers with his family each year for fresh Dungeness crab. (Image credit: Courtesy Chris Rasmussen)
Eating fresh Dungeness crab for Christmas is a longtime Rasmussen tradition. Fishing for this wintertime treat dates back to the mid-1800s in the Bay Area, and Dungeness crab fishing season typically opens right before Thanksgiving. Our family usually begins our holiday tradition by going to Pillar Point in Half Moon Bay to pick up the crab and over the next day or so cooking and cracking. We serve the crab with butter and lemon or simmered in a Cioppino sauce and plenty of fresh San Francisco sourdough bread. As with all treasured holiday traditions, the best thing about this special gathering is seeing our family together and the laughter and love that we share over this meal.
From the author:
Chelcey Adami, university governance writer:
University governance writer Chelcey Adami grew up eating black-eyed peas on New Year’s Day for good luck. (Image credit: Chelcey Adami)
Growing up in Texas, we always had to eat black-eyed peas on New Year’s Day for good luck in the new year. We eat it with cornbread, and there’s something very simple and comforting about the dish. We usually slow-cook them with jalapenos, onion, seasoning, and sliced bacon, but I’ve also made vegetarian versions of the dish. Just make sure you buy them early – it’s happened to me more than once (even in California) that stores will sell out shortly before the end of the year.