Holiday Rituals, Unwrapped: Inspiration From Our Community
How simple rituals and shared traditions help the holidays become lasting expressions of meaningful memories and connection.
Dec 21, 2025
Written by our Founder and Chairman, the Celebrations Pulse letters aim to engage with our community. By welcoming your ideas and sharing your stories, we want to help you strengthen your relationships with the most important people in your life.
Each week, my inbox fills with notes from readers generous enough to share stories about their lives. Reading them has become a ritual for me — and a source of inspiration.
One reader, Anna, wrote to tell me about a tradition her family practices at holiday dinners. Everyone writes their name on a slip of paper and drops it into a box. Later, between the main course and dessert, each guest draws a name and shares what they appreciate about that person.
This year, I decided to try Anna’s ritual with my family. It was, in a word, wonderful. The room instantly changed as laughter mixed with a few misty eyes. What emerged was a deeper awareness of the sometimes unspoken bonds that tie us together.
Rituals have a way of opening the door to connection. In that spirit, I’d like to open the Celebrations Pulse mailbox and share a few more stories readers have sent. My hope is that they’ll inspire you, just as Anna’s did for me — and maybe find their way into your own family gatherings.
The objects that hold our history
As the notes came in, I was struck by how many rituals are tied to ornaments and other objects that are pulled out once a year and carefully returned to closets and attics. They may look like temporary decorations, but they carry the weight of our families’ histories.
Evelyn told me about a set of hand-painted wooden ornaments her mother bought decades ago. She and her children painted them together when they were young. More than 40 years later, they still hang on the tree. Evelyn can name exactly who painted each one. “They’ll be my grandchildren’s inheritance,” she joked — and there’s more truth than humor in that line.
And Cookie wrote about an ornament in the shape of a tiny pair of white roller skates that her great-aunt and uncle gave her parents on her very first Christmas. Those skates have hung on every tree she’s had for 73 years, through childhood, marriage, and raising children of her own.
“Now it’s just my husband and me. And they’ll go on the tree again this year, with faded writing and many fond memories.”
The rituals only your family understands
Some rituals don’t need explanation. Others only make sense if you grew up with them — and that’s part of their charm.
Jennifer described her annual hunt for wrapping paper that’s different for each family member and sourced from as many as six stores. It started when her daughters were in elementary school, and it stuck. It’s her way of saying, “I see you,” before a gift is even opened.
Doris shared a tradition born out of practicality and curiosity. On Thanksgiving, she gives each family member some cash with one rule: Buy something just for yourself, don’t use it, wrap it, and bring it to Christmas.
“They open it in front of all of us, and what they have bought for themselves is always so surprising and so much fun to see. It’s almost always something I would never in the world have thought they would want.”
One story stopped me in my tracks, and I couldn’t resist sharing it with MiChaela on my team. On the morning of the holiday dinner, the writer explained, every guest punches the turkey. It tenderizes the bird, keeps the kids busy, and sets the tone for a get-together filled with laughter.
“Wait,” MiChaela said. “What’s the name on that letter?”
It turned out to be her mom!
Giving as a living tradition
For many people, tradition isn’t just something you get. It’s something you give.
Mary told me about gifting her daughter-in-law a silver crown engraved with “Queen Bee,” a nod to her love of royalty. Her daughter-in-law treasures it. “I call her my bonus daughter,” Mary wrote. “I hope that crown becomes part of her Christmas forever.”
Becky shared that when money is tight, she gives time instead, volunteering in place of financial donations. Showing up, she reminded me, can be just as meaningful as writing a check.
And Jacqueline shared a story about her grandmother’s love of Belle Snookle, the New Year’s Fairy. It was a tradition created during lean years, when Santa couldn’t bring much, but creativity and love filled the gap.
Belle arrived a week later with small surprises, just enough to make the children feel seen. She adds:
“When I had a family, I continued the tradition for my kids and now my grandkids. I have never heard of Belle Snookle from anyone else, and I often wonder if this is a long-lost tradition, or one born out of financial necessity from my grandmother.”
Choosing what still matters
Traditions and rituals follow us from home to home, person to person, and year to year. As time moves on, some fade away while others take on new meaning. We don’t keep them out of obligation. We choose them because they still matter.
In doing so, they invite us to slow down and notice what’s still here, whether it’s the people, the objects, or the moments that carry our stories forward.
All the best,
Jim
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AUTHOR
Jim McCann is the founder and chairman of 1-800-FLOWERS.COM, Inc. as well as a business leader, author, and philanthropist with a passion for helping people deliver smiles. Devoted to helping others, he also founded Smile Farms, a 501(c)3 organization that provides meaningful jobs in agricultural settings to young adults and adults with developmental disabilities.
