CassAsks - Holiday Edition

For this CassAsks, there's something a little different... I asked a handful of sapphic creators to answer : what is your favorite holiday tradition? Is it reflected in any of your work?

Without further adieu, here are their responses:

Roslyn Sinclair:

You know what, I'll go with Christmas day, especially when we get a chance to visit our niece and nephew. I love seeing their excitement when they come downstairs to see their gifts at the foot of the tree. And then we have my mom's breakfast casserole, which is the exception to my "I don't eat eggs" rule. So good.

I guess I touched on it a little bit in Truth and Measure when Vivian calls Jules away from her family on Christmas Day! 

Carrie Byrd:

I grew up attending an annual Hanukkah party hosted by family friends. Around fifteen or twenty of us would gather in their warm, wonderful home and consume a massive feast: sufganiyot, noodle kugel, chocolate babka, and, of course, perfectly fried latkes (for any Jews reading this, the answer to your question is sour cream and applesauce). But the best part, by far, was the singing. We’d gather together in the living room after dinner, the hosts would distribute sheets with lyrics, and we’d sing Jewish songs, some specific to Hanukkah and some not. All of us knew the melodies, and there was a particular beauty in thinking about how old the songs were, the traditions we were upholding. My father—who is not religious whatsoever—would sing without looking at the lyric sheets, remembering all the songs from his childhood attending temple. I used to watch him in wonder, feeling as though a little curtain had parted that showed who he used to be.

While Loser of the Year doesn’t include a holiday party, Hanukkah does feature briefly and significantly! Mattie, my Jewish MC, shares my strong opinions about the best way to eat latkes. We’re both extremely correct, by the way.

Emily Waters:

I love Halloween the best, but I think I write more about Christmas. Love a Christmas tree, love the coziness of Christmas lights. As far as pacing goes, Christmas or any major holiday is a good way to show the passage of time or where we are in the year without having to explicitly state it. 

Jen Lyon:

Gifting books on Christmas Eve and spending the rest of the evening reading. I use an example of it in The Unfinished Line.

Trixia Quinzon:

I don’t think I gave any favorite holiday tradition? I do enjoy giving gifts though! Finding a perfect gift for each person and then seeing their reaction when they open it – feels sooo nice.

Nicole Pyland:

I’m not big on traditions myself and don’t always do them now. I think my favorite tradition that we had as a kid was on Thanksgiving when my grandma would come over and we’d all cook and put up the Christmas decorations together, so the tree would be up and done by the end of the day.

Rachel Lacey:

Giving my son an ornament every year for Christmas that reflects something from his year. They’re all fun and meaningful, and once he’s an adult, he’ll have a nice collection of ornaments to start his own tree. And no, this is completely unrelated to my books.

Ashley Herring Blake:

I love watching Christmas movies--certain ones I’ve seen at least twenty times. I did put this into Make the Season Bright.

Clare Lydon:

Catching up with friends & family, drinking mulled wine and eating mince pies. I also love walking around the centre of London checking out the lights. Christmas Eve is one of my absolute favourite days of the year. The characters in my books always look at lights, drink mulled wine, eat mince pies. It’s the law in the UK last time I checked. 

Cath Grace:

I adore everything about Christmas and it would probably be exchanging gifts, which can’t be beat for someone whose love language is gift giving. This is going to sound corny, but in many ways illustrating covers is my love language to all the authors who have created this incredible sapphic fiction community. A community that has given me so much.

Monica McCallan:

My mom always collected Department 56 villages and it's something that my wife and I now do as well. I love setting them up (we're trying to figure out the best configuration in our new house!) and adding new accessories, stores, and homes each Christmas season.

To date, it hasn't been included in any of my books, though it's something I'd love to feature in the future!

Haley Cass:

I am VERY big on Christmas, and I love a lot of aspects about it! Which – by and large – is reflected in a lot of my characters who, similarly, love Christmas.

Ever since I was born, I’ve had the same Christmas stocking. One of my aunts knits, and she has knit a stocking for everyone in my dad’s side of the family (giving people a new stocking when a baby is born into the family or when someone gets married). They’re all different but complementary holiday colors and everyone’s stocking has their name knit into it.

I’ve just always loved our stockings, and I was so incredibly thrilled when she knit Monica one and gave it to us a few months ago, so we could have it for our first Christmas after getting married :)

When I was writing a lot of my Christmas-themed posts, I made mention of several of my characters/their families having family-knit stockings with their names on them, and I think that’s something fun from my family/something I love about the holidays that is a small, simple detail to pass on to my characters.