Die Hard The Traditions and the Movie
Hopefully by now you’ve already got all your gifts wrapped and hidden away. Wait…you mean you don’t have your shopping done yet? Better go grab a few things from the Pilot Gear Store like we told you a few weeks ago before it’s too late!
So what about traditions? There are so many.
- Leigh (that’s “Lee,” not “Leah”) one of our graphic designers and digital asset managers, said her family always spends Christmas Eve at her abuelo and abuela’s house for a big meal and Secret Santa gift exchange. The food? Abuela’s secret recipe for chicken milanesa. The recipe? In abuela’s head. If that’s not tradition, I don’t know what is.
- Nick, our web team lead (and boss of social media hooligans), seems to have the same Christmas tradition that he has for Thanksgiving: maximum gluttony. His family also does the Icelandic Christmas book flood. In his words, “tl;dr - everyone gets new jammies and a book on Christmas Eve.
- Kevin who works on our social media team says that he and his family celebrate on Christmas Eve with a Secret Santa gift exchange and Christmas day is a hangout/recovery day (depending on how much food and/or drink was consumed on Christmas Eve).
Some other pretty popular ones among our staff are:
- Decorating after Thanksgiving is cleaned up (or that weekend)
- Shopping on Black Friday
- Shopping from home on Cyber Monday
- Volunteering at a homeless shelter
- Making plans to see (or avoid) family
- Going crazy trying to think of presents to get the family member who doesn’t ever say what they want
- Exchange gifts on Boxing Day
- More Gluttony
- Goofy gift exchange or Secret Santa
- Packing gifts for our military and those in need
- Staying up all night on NYE
- Watching the ball drop
- Traveling
- Resolutions
- Running. Let’s talk if you’re one of these. It sounds awful (we kid, we kid).
Some of us take time to binge watch movies. My family always took advantage of the James Bond marathons on Thanksgiving weekend. I think I’ve seen each one at least 10 times. My wife loves to watch all the Hallmark movies and then wrecked my whole world when she pointed out that James Bond movies are all the same, just like the Hallmark movies.
I've also gotten into the habit of wrapping my brother's gifts as obnoxiously as possible with as many layers of packaging, wrapping paper, and duct tape. He's gotten in on the action and gave me a gift one year wrapped in pink duct tape and interlaced zip ties. It makes for a fun time, and thankfully I almost always have a pocket knife for problems just like these.
There are also all the classic movies, and the age-old question: Is Die Hard a Christmas movie? This is a debate we’ll get into. But more about favorite holiday movies later!
Tell us about your holiday traditions or anything else holiday-related and tag us on social! @flywithaopa on Instagram and TikTok, @aopa on Twitter, and @AOPAPilots on Facebook
