The holidays with Ella Jayne are much like how you’d imagine a family holiday: Thanksgiving at grandma’s, the traditional Christmas Eve service, and opening presents.
“On Thanksgiving day I went to my grandma’s house and she made the meal, with all the classics. On Friday we went to my uncle’s house with two cousins and more extended family for a second Thanksgiving celebration and it was a really good time!. We definitely ate half our body weight in food we didn’t need!” She laughs. “My favorite Thanksgiving foods are mashed potatoes and stuffing. My uncle makes the best stuffing!”
But like all families, their holidays have a twist.
“We have this journal that we write in every year. It’s a gratitude journal so we wrote what we’re thankful for as a family.”
For Christmas this year, it’s been so much fun seeing my friends from my old schools since I go to a new school now and I’ve been friends with them since I was 4. On a limo ride, we eat our body weight in cookies, go see lights and then go to iHop and create a song for our server. We’ll sing it for them in the tune of an existing Christmas song. This year it was A Holly Jolly Christmas:
Have a holly jolly work shift
And you hope that we eat quick
So you can go home
To the place you live in
Thank you for the refill
Don’t give us the bill
After us, you’ll need an advil
No one here’s named Jill
Thank you, ACHA
For serving us
Ok, we’ll leave on our bus
You already know that we are 11+
“We always have Christmas Eve service before we go to my aunt and uncle’s house to get presents for the next day. My mom makes biscuits and gravy every Christmas morning but I eat them with jelly. For dinner, we used to go to China Buffet, but it’s closed so we got to LA Juicy now.”
For this Christmas, Ella Jayne wants snow. “I also like the smell of Christmas a lot (100% peppermint) and I’m excited to see my sister because even though she’s older than me she acts 2 years old and it’s so cute. This year, I asked for succulents because I like them a lot and I want them for my new room since I’m redoing it. I like real plants but get emotionally attached and sad when they die because I name them. We don’t really have any strange traditions, I just always make cookies with my grandma–the same every year since I was four. It’s good to see that my family is all together and all the dogs, it’s a happy time.”
Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays from Ella Jayne and her family to yours!