This holiday season, we asked members of the Channel 2 family to share one of their favorite family traditions with you.

Some remembered ones from their childhood; others mentioned new traditions they started with their families.

Wendy Corona

“Since the family is spread across 3 states, my youngest sister decided to arrange a secret Santa exchange with all of our families. This pic shows how we did it using FaceTime. My family in Georgia. Older sister’s family in Texas. Mom and two other sisters and their families in SoCal. We had a lot of fun and plan to do it again next year!” - Wendy

Meteorologist Brian Monahan

“Every Christmas Eve, we’d pack up into the car and make the trip from house to house visiting family. Christmas Eve was always a much bigger deal than Christmas Day for getting together with family, celebrating, and all of that good stuff! After all of the night’s travels, we’d finish up back at home and open at least a gift or two at midnight on Christmas Eve -- sometimes it would end up being all of the gifts under the tree! :) To this day, I love Christmas Eve!”

Chris Jose

“Every year, we have a neighborhood luminary night. It’s one of our favorite family traditions. While Santa could not come this year due to the pandemic, we still got to enjoy a sleigh ride around the subdivision. In the days leading up to Christmas, it’s all hands on deck. I cook up traditional Filipino food including pork adobo, pancit and lumpia. My wife is in charge of traditional Swedish cookies. We go to midnight mass, open one gift after church and celebrate all day when the sun comes up!

Mike Petchenik

“Every Chanukah, Jews around the world celebrate the miracle that took place inside the Temple when our people reclaimed it from The Greeks way back in 166 BCE. As the story goes, the Maccabee soldiers found a flask of oil left inside their desecrated place of prayer. The amount of oil in the flask should have only allowed them to light their candelabra for one day, but incredibly, that oil lasted for eight nights, hence the eight nights we celebrate Chanukah. In modern times, Jews light those candles each night of Chanukah, and we use olive oil to fry up potato pancakes, called latkes. One of my favorite memories growing up was having my entire family over to our home to light the candles, open presents and to eat latkes. To this day, the smell of fried potatoes and onions filling our home brings me back to my childhood. As an adult, I was lucky enough to inherit the fry pan that my paternal grandmother, Lenora, used for decades to cook her latkes. Every Chanukah, my own children now help me shred the potatoes (or shop for the frozen hash browns 😊), chop up the onions, and fry up our own latkes. One day, they will inherit the fry pan from me, and perhaps their children from them.”

Justin Wilfon

“We love taking our daughters to Asheville, North Carolina each December. It’s such a neat town – especially during the holidays. Maybe next year we’ll actually get both girls to smile for a picture.”

Alison Mastrangelo

“My favorite holiday traditions always involve spending time with my family whether they come and visit me or I am able to go visit them at home. However, when I adopted Rocky five years ago I discovered I also loved dressing Rocky in a cute Christmas sweater or more recently dressing him in matching Christmas PJs .😂”

Carol Sbarge

“Our big tradition is watching the movie Christmas Story on Christmas Eve. We’ve seen it many times but never get tired of it. Of course we have to enjoy some homemade Christmas cookies while watching it.”- Carol

Richard Elliot

Richard Elliot and his wife like to visit national parks all around the country as well as state parks in Georgia an surrounding states. It’s become a tradition to buy a Christmas ornament at each one of their stops and then hang them on their tree. They have unique ornaments from Yosemite, Bryce Canyon, Zion and Mt. Rainer National Parks as well as ones from closer to home like Black Rock Mountain, Chattahoochee Bend, Fort Mountain, and Brasstown Bald State Parks. There are also ornaments from the Cradle of Forestry in North Carolina and the Blue Ridge Parkway. The tree becomes a place where they can remember their past adventures and dream about where they can go next.

Meteorologist Eboni Deon

“Dressing alike in our Christmas T-shirts, having a family sleepover and taking turns reading ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas aloud to the children. and making Christmas Sangria.” - Eboni

Jorge Estevez

“My favorite tradition had to be Santa. I would always look forward to seeing him because I would always ask him do my parents to be back together. Although it sounds sad, it’s not! I loved the hope that he brought to me every year. And no, they never got back together, but they both gave me the best childhood a kid could ask for.” - Jorge

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