For many in Kamloops heading downtown for the official tree lighting at St. Andrews on the Square is a holiday tradition.

(JENNIFER STAHN / iNFOnews.ca)

It seems everyone has Christmas traditions. They can be passed down generation after generation or maybe it is something you started doing in recent years but has quickly become a tradition for you and your family.

We tend to hold onto traditions even more at Christmas time. They tie us to our past, provide comfort in the middle of the winter and offer a sentimental tug few other things can achieve.

In our newsroom, our traditions range widely but in the honour of the season we’ve decided to share them with you.

Editor Marshall Jones, along with his wife and two kids, have a tradition few would envy but many experience.

“Nothing says Christmas like a white-knuckle, ice, snow, fog, sleet, slush and blinding snow drive through the mountains to Alberta.”

Assistant editor Howard Alexander has a bit more traditional tradition as the only man in a house full of women. He gets to place the angel at the top of the family Christmas tree every year.

The tradition in assistant editor Shelley Jordan's family is to put elf hats on Christmas morning and share a delicious breakfast of Canadian bacon with baked french cinnamon-raisin toast, followed by gifts.

"This tradition goes back to my childhood. Delaying the big event built excitement, so something that might have been over in a matter of moments was stretched over hours. To this day I don't really remember much about the presents. It was all about the people and the fun we were having. I hope that's the gift I'm giving to my own children as we continue the tradition."

Vernon reporter Charlotte Helston takes her tradition outdoors. You are sure to find her out tobogganing with a thermos full of hot chocolate during the holidays while Penticton Reporter Steve Arstad watches It’s A Wonderful Life every year.

Kelowna reporter Adam Proskiw enjoys the smoke black cod his family has every year for Christmas dinner while Kamloops reporter Jennifer Stahn has grown up opening up Christmas crackers before dinner every year since she was little. Stahn has one other tradition she holds onto, passed down from her grandfather many years ago.

"He would always have a prank gift for one person in the family. Usually he would get a large crate, fill it with hay and then a small gift would be hidden inside somewhere. The look on the recipient's face was always worth it. Now every year one person on my list gets some type of prank wrapping. It might not be a big wooden box, but it's still a fun tradition to carry on."

In our newsroom Kamloops reporter Glynn Brothen probably has the best, and yet possibly the worst, Christmas tradition.

“We follow Christmas dinner with my birthday cake. Yep, I was born on Christmas Day.”

What traditions does your family follow during the holidays?

To contact a reporter for this story, email Jennifer Stahn at jstahn@infonews.ca or call 250-819-3723. To contact an editor, email mjones@infonews.ca or call 250-718-2724.

News from © iNFOnews, 2014