Season's Greetings!

Holiday Traditions

We asked our very own A.S. family to share their holiday traditions, favorite foods, and what it means to them.  

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LeeAnn Chavez
SDSU Children’s Center Preschool Supervisor

“One tradition we have is to attend a production of the 'Nutcracker' with my granddaughters. We started on the older granddaughter's first Christmas and have seen one production or another every year – a movie, San Diego Ballet, children's dance studio productions, etc. It is fun to dress up and sit in a theater with live performers. My dream is to take them to New York to see it.  

Another tradition is I try to make something for each person every year. It helps me feel in the spirit to make things for others and for my home.” 

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Janice Dils
Government Affair Manager 

“Every holiday season as a child, my mom made palitaw (pah-lee-tao), which is a traditional Filipino dessert made out of glutinous rice flour. It is a flat mochi cake, about the size of your hand, topped with granulated sugar, toasted sesame seeds, and grated coconut. When the flat dough is cooked in boiling water, the patilaw would float to the top when it is done cooking. The word palitaw was derived from the word “litaw” meaning ‘to float’. When eaten during the New Year, it is said that luck will ‘float up’. New Year’s Eve is when my mom would serve it. I have memories of my mom grating a fresh head of coconut with a wooden coconut grater. My sisters and I would stand around the stove, watching the palitaw float to the top. We will then eat the sweet, chewy cake around the fireplace. I always put extra sugar on it. This New Year Eve, I will make palitaw for my family and celebrate the new year. I cannot wait!”

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Letty Hernandez
A.S. Office Supervisor - Government Affairs

“During the holidays my mom always has Mexican hot chocolate on the stove. Mexican hot chocolate is different from other hot chocolates, because it has cinnamon ground into the cacao. Mexican hot chocolate comes in round bars like the picture below. Sipping Mexican hot chocolate reminds me of home and the holidays no matter what time of year it is. It is best paired with the ‘Muppets Christmas Carol,’ which is our family's favorite rendition of the classic, that we all watch together on Christmas Eve.  

Another family tradition we have with Christmas dinner are tamales. There are two types of tamales, the most commonly known tamales are wrapped in corn husks and the other type is wrapped in banana leaves. My family is from the tropical part of Mexico, called Mérida which is located on the southeastern part of Mexico, near the Gulf of Mexico. Mérida is surrounded by jungles, so tamales from here are wrapped in banana leaves instead of corn husks. This makes the tamale a lot more moist than the corn husk counterpart. They are typically filled with the Yucatán style barbeque pork called Cochinita Pibil which makes a very tender flavorful filling.”

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Michelle Phillips
SDSU Children’s Center Food Services Supervisor 

"Christmas is my favorite time of year because that means decorating our tree together with family and eating home cooked Vietnamese food. My favorite food to eat for the holidays is home cooked pho, a comforting Vietnamese noodle soup that is made with fresh ingredients and prepared from scratch, left to cook and marinate overnight and ready to be eaten for brunch on Christmas Day.  

Another holiday tradition I would share with my family is to host a White Elephant Gift Exchange with all of our cousins. Being with family and sharing these traditions reminds me of my childhood and a special time with my loved ones." 

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Brandi Tonne
Government Affairs Coordinator

“Merry Christmas and Христос Рождається”

Christmas is truly the best time of the year! It is the one holiday that perfectly merges two cultures in our home and allows my daughter, Liliya, to fully celebrate her identity as a Ukrainian American. Therefore, Christmas cheer in our family begins as soon KYXY starts playing Christmas music on the radio and continues through mid-January. This is because the Ukrainian culture follows the Greek Orthodox calendar and celebrates Christmas on January 6th and 7th. 

On our Christmas Eve (January 6th), our family prepares the 'свята вечеря' (pronounced svyata vecherya, translates to Holy Supper). This meal consists of 12 vegetarian/kosher dishes to represent Jesus's 12 disciples and we cannot start eating until the first star appears in the sky. We also lay hay beneath the tablecloth since Jesus was born in a stall and garlic cloves on all 4 corners to protect us from evil spirits. Later in the night, children go caroling from house to house while dressed up in symbolic costumes such as the Three Kings and Angels. In return, they are given money for their performance. 

As for January 7th, we celebrate Christmas day which is known as 'Христос Рождається' (pronoucnced Khrystos Rozhdayetsia, translates to Christ is Born). On this official holiday day, children continue to carol, we are allowed to eat meat and we welcome friends in our home for a drink or two!

Liliya receives gifts from Saint Nicholas on both the morning of December 19th and December 25th.”

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Greg Viehman
Mission Bay Aquatic Center Marine Maintenance Supervisor

“One of my favorite times of year is the Fall and going into the holiday season. My family has always gone over the top with some of the tastiest foods for holiday gatherings. But among the most complicated and time consuming food preps, one of my favorites, is very simple. My mom's Chex Mix. This was always a staple in our house from Thanksgiving, through Christmas, and still is. From the smell of it cooking, to not being able to stop eating it once I start, this is truly my favorite winter snack.

Heat up a stick of butter on top of the stove in a large pan and then add quite a bit of Worcestershire sauce. You may need more depending on how many ingredients you have. Mix and add all your ingredients into the butter mixture and try to coat everything.

Ingredients:

• 1 Stick of Butter
• Worcestershire Sauce
• 1 Box of Wheat Chex
• About a half box of Corn Chex 
• Lots of mixed nuts and especially extra cashews
• Pretzels

Heat the oven up to 250 degrees.  Cook for 1 hour stirring every 15 minutes.   

That’s it!"

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Michelle Zamora
SDSU Children’s Center Director

“For almost any holiday or gathering (not just Christmas), we make lumpia. For my family more so at Christmas and Thanksgiving the making of lumpia has taken on a different meaning.  Yes, they are delicious and we eat them faster than we can make them, but for us it represents a labor of love and gathering. For most of my childhood, my family owned a Filipino restaurant in San Diego. While many families during this time of year would gather around the fire and chat, my siblings, cousins, aunts and uncle's would gather around the kitchen and roll hundreds of these lumpia in preparation for Christmas orders the next day. It was a tiring tradition and when I look back, it created a lot of fun memories. It really instilled in my family a strong appreciation for how our parents worked so hard to provide for our family.”

Do You See What I See?

“Your presents is requested.” It’s “time to spruce things up” a little! Are you all ready to “treat yo’elf” to this fun-filled Christmas themed emoji phrase game? “As it snow happens” these phrases could be popular songs, movies or phrases that you would hear around the holidays! “Yule be sorry” if you don’t attempt to play this game. 

“Believe in your elf” and click the link to play! 

TEST YOUR EMOJI KNOWLEDGE 

15 Questions

Diana de la Rosa

1. What is your name and title?
   

   Diana de la Rosa, Student Organization Accounts Specialist

2. Which A.S. department do you work in?
   

   Business Services

3. How long have you worked for A.S.?
   

   1 1/2 years

4. What was the last movie you saw? Thumbs up or thumbs down? 
   

   “A Patch of Blue.” Thumbs Up!

5. What is your favorite dessert?
   

   Key Lime cheesecake. It’s fresh, light and very tart.

6. Which three people (living or dead) you would like to have dinner with? 
   

   My mother, my grandmother and my great grandmother. They are all women that I admire.

7. What city would you most like to visit or visit again?
   

   Reykjavik, Iceland. Why not?

8. Do you prefer pens or pencils?
   

   Pencils.  I like the feel and the sound of pencil on paper.

9. Which famous person from history would you most like to meet? 
   

   Olympias (mother of Alexander the Great). She was born at a time (370 B.C.) when women were meant to be “nice” and subservient, but that was not in her nature.  Because she was ambitious and as intelligent as her male counterparts, ancient historians often described her as cruel and ruthless. I think she was insightful and knew how to survive.

10. What is your favorite book?
    

    “Persuasion,” by Jane Austen. Her storytelling is witty, there is real depth to her characters and her very descriptive writing style makes you feel as if you are right in the middle of the story.

11. What do you want to be when you grow up? 
    

    Social Anthropologist.  I have a fundamental urge to get to the bottom of things.

12. What is your perfect breakfast? 
    

    I love breakfast! Before COVID, my sister would make my favorite breakfast every Sunday morning. Eggs, potatoes, chorizo and sourdough toast with avocado and tomatoes.

13. If you could go back or forward in time, where would you go?
    

    2500 B.C. Ancient Egypt. So much is still unknown about their culture.

14. When you visit the Zoo, which animal do you make sure you see?
    

    Giraffes. They are mellow and regal and if I were an animal I would want to be one.

15. What’s the best concert you’ve been to and why was it so good?
    

    Tina Turner. I only agreed to go with my sister because I wanted to see the opening band.  Wow, was I wrong about Tina Turner. It was 2 1/2 hours of nonstop fabulousness.

    BONUS QUESTION:
    If you could be any color in a box of Crayola Crayons, what color would you be?Surprisingly this is the most difficult question of all.  I would have to say….Orange. It encourages happy thoughts.