{"176511":{"#nid":"176511","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Faculty, Staff Share Their Holiday Traditions","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EThe Whistle asked Tech faculty and staff members to share their favorite holiday traditions. Read on to find out what your colleagues said. \u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ESinging Christmas music with our church choir is a part of our celebration. Singing has been an important part of my life since grade school, and I have the privilege of singing with good friends in the choir at First Methodist Church in Marietta.\u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp;\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u2014 \u003Cem\u003ERon Bohlander, Georgia Tech Research Institute\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EWe always attend the Christmas Carol Concert at Morehouse College. It\u2019s a powerful performance in which the Morehouse and Spelman College Glee Clubs, more than 100 voices, perform holiday songs from around the world and through the ages.\u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp;\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u2014 \u003Cem\u003EMaria Linderoth, Facilities\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EFor more than 15 years, the Alumni Association has adopted families for the holiday season. We locate families in need\u0026nbsp; through local county or charitable agencies, and then our staff members contribute to their wish lists through monetary donations or gifts. One morning, with holiday music playing and sugary treats available, we get together and wrap all the presents. \u003Cbr \/\u003E\u2014 \u003Cem\u003EAlumni Association\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EMy favorite holiday tradition is to spend Christmas day with my siblings in my sister\u2019s fantastic, enormous kitchen in Denver cooking, chatting and showing off our culinary skills. After hours of preparation, the entire extended family shows up to eat dinner. \u0026nbsp;\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u2014 \u003Cem\u003EKirk Bowman, International Affairs\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EWe are always away from home visiting family during the holidays. So every year, we pick an open Saturday in December and declare it \u201cFake Christmas.\u201d We wake up that morning,\u0026nbsp; open gifts, eat all of our favorite Christmas foods and spend quality family time together. It allows us to have our own holiday traditions without getting lost in the travel shuffle.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u2014 \u003Cem\u003EKim Sterritt, Parents Program\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EMy favorite December tradition is picking out a Christmas tree with my children and decorating it. We play holiday music and attempt to sing, which involves a lot of laughter. Over the past few years, my daughter has recorded us, and then we laugh about that for days.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u2014\u003Cem\u003E Darlene Wright, Human Resources\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe annual Family Housing Holiday Party has been a tradition since 1995. We invite all Family Housing residents. Most of them are new parents, so this is their baby\u2019s first Christmas party. We also invite all international students, and many attend and have their pictures taken with Santa. We also display posters representing holiday celebrations around the world including Kwanzaa, Hanukkah and New Year celebrations.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u2014 \u003Cem\u003EMaz Kosma, Housing\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EThe Whistle asked Tech faculty and staff members to share their favorite holiday traditions.\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"The Whistle asked Tech faculty and staff members to share their favorite holiday traditions."}],"uid":"27445","created_gmt":"2012-12-10 16:06:05","changed_gmt":"2016-10-08 03:13:22","author":"Amelia Pavlik","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2012-12-10T00:00:00-05:00","iso_date":"2012-12-10T00:00:00-05:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"176331":{"id":"176331","type":"image","title":"Family Housing Holiday Party","body":null,"created":"1449179022","gmt_created":"2015-12-03 21:43:42","changed":"1475894819","gmt_changed":"2016-10-08 02:46:59","alt":"Family Housing Holiday Party","file":{"fid":"195872","name":"familyhousing1210.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/familyhousing1210_0.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/familyhousing1210_0.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":1375370,"path_740":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/familyhousing1210_0.jpg?itok=wTNkLznM"}}},"media_ids":["176331"],"groups":[{"id":"1259","name":"Whistle"}],"categories":[{"id":"129","name":"Institute and Campus"}],"keywords":[{"id":"3423","name":"employees"},{"id":"1506","name":"faculty"},{"id":"15357","name":"holiday traditions"},{"id":"167018","name":"staff"}],"core_research_areas":[],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:amelia.pavlik@comm.gatech.edu\u0022\u003EAmelia Pavlik\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003EInstitute Communications\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"email":[],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}