SANDIE SALAS: On today’s podcast we are going to be talking about Christmas traditions. Katelyn, aren’t you so excited for Christmas? It’s like, just right around the corner.

KATELYN ALVAREZ: Mhm, I’m super excited to put up my tree.

SALAS: Me too. Me and my family chose to do this red and gold theme for our tree, and for decorating around the house.

ALVAREZ: Oh, that sounds super nice. I still haven’t figured out a theme for my house and my tree, but I’m kind of debating on maybe doing white; me and my family haven’t done that in a while.

SALAS: That sounds cool. It reminds me of that one song “White Christmas.”

ALVAREZ: Oh, the song by Bing Crosby?

SALAS: Oh yeah, that one song, it’s really good.

ALVAREZ: Yeah. Speaking about Christmas songs, what’s your favorite song?

SALAS: My favorite song I think I’d say “Jingle Bells” we’ve always sang it since we were young and it’s really catchy.

ALVAREZ: Yeah I agree, that’s a classic. For me I really like “Rocking around the Christmas Tree” because me and my family put up the tree, and decorate around the house. We ask Alexa to play a Christmas album for us. And that’s like one of our favorite songs to sing to.

SALAS: That’s so cool. I should probably start making a Christmas playlist. Other than the songs we mentioned I really like the one by Mariah Carey and then she does these little intros saying it’s time eeeeeeeeeeee that one.

ALVAREZ: Oh yeah, I love that song. That’s a really good hit. No wonder she always does like a little intro, in November about it, saying that Christmas is almost here.

SALAS: Yeah, I always see them on TikTok, and they’re really funny.

ALVAREZ: Yeah I agree I’ve seen it on Instagram. I always laugh.

SALAS: Um, other than Christmas songs me and my family started playing movies too,while putting up our Christmas tree up last year we played “The Grinch,” and it was like such a classic for the holidays.

ALVAREZ: Oh, “The Grinch.” That’s a really good movie. That reminds me of when IHOP came out with “The Grinch” themed food for Christmas. That one year.

SALAS: Oh, yeah, IHOP, I love IHOP. They’re always on time with their stuff with like the movies coming out. Last time I went to IHOP they were doing the Minion pancakes, it was really good.

ALVAREZ: Oh yeah, that also reminds me, Denny’s also had the Beetle, Beetlejuice burger this year.

SALAS: Oh yeah Beetlejuice. I remember I saw their advertisements, but back to the Christmas movies. What’s your top movie to watch?

ALVAREZ: I think my top movie to watch is either “The Nightmare Before Christmas” by Tim Burton or, “The Lady and the Tramp,” because that movie was kind of based around Christmas time, so I really like it.

SALAS: I love those two movies. They’re adorable, and I love to binge watch out throughout the season.

ALVAREZ: Yeah, I agree.

SALAS: Do you eat anything while watching these movies?

ALVAREZ: Ummm

SALAS: Popcorn is a classic you know but like other than popcorn. Like what’s your classic Christmas dinner?

ALVAREZ: Um, Christmas dinner. I don’t really have one to be honest, but me and my family always make tamales, so I’ll go over to my grandma’s house to help her with them, and also come back home to help my dad make more. But I will agree popcorn is a classic for watching movies.

SALAS: Uhmm, it’s nice of you to help your grandma with making tamales and also your dad. In my family we do pozole and tamales, but we focus more on the pozole because people in my family like enjoy it better because it’s hot and warm, kinda like a soup. What about dessert? Do you guys have like a little treat after dinner?

ALVAREZ: Oh yeah, speaking about treats and desserts, my grandma always makes atole for Christmas, and sometimes my dad makes buñuelos, so we’ll take them over to her house for dinner, and we’ll eat atole and buñuelos together. And it’s super good.

SALAS: That sounds really good. Um you should bring me some sometime maybe after the holidays.

ALVAREZ: I’ll see if I have extra I’ll save you some.

SALAS: Thank you.

ALVAREZ: Do you visit any family for Christmas, Sandie?

SALAS: Um, yeah,I’ll spend Christmas at my grandma’s house and all my family sorta like reunites there so we all see each other there.

ALVAREZ: Oh yeah I do that too, like my family at home, like my mom, my dad and my brother, well once we open gifts at home we’ll go to my grandma’s house and my mom’s side of the family will be there. And it’s super nice.

SALAS: That actually sounds really nice. Uhm do you guys do anything together? Like any activities there?

ALVAREZ: Yeah we hang around at my grandma’s house the whole day. But before Christmas, we go to visit my dad’s family. So we’ll do like white elephant. And it’s super similar to Secret Santa.

SALAS: Me and my family do Secret Santa. It’s really fun.

ALVAREZ: Yeah, I agree I love doing those games. I look forward to them every year, because people for white elephant get super competitive when they see the big bags.

SALAS: Me and my family will get so competitive when it comes to loteria we will start saying it’s rigged.

ALVAREZ: My family too, we’ll like kinda start fighting, or like if someone’s losing they’re like damn I’m not even winning what’s going on you know? But occasionally we’ll play loteria but when we do it’s really fun.

SALAS: Uh yeah, do you guys do gingerbread houses or like cookies and stuff?

ALVAREZ: Oh yeah, me and my brother, do gingerbread houses together like my dad will buy us, like the big ones from Costco, and he’ll bring it home to us, and then we’ll make one together, and it’s super fun. And besides gingerbread houses, I also go over to my grandma’s house, and we’ll rarely make them, but me and my grandma will make gingerbread cookies together and when we do, it’s super fun. And me and my grandma and I get to bond over making cookies together.

SALAS: Aww that sounds so sweet of you.

ALVAREZ: Do you do gingerbread houses Sandie?

SALAS: Oh, my family we do like a mini gingerbread house competition and we’ll like separate them by like their age group so we’ll do like the little kids and like the kids that are like teenagery and then the adults will do theirs so that it’s not too competitive between them.

ALVAREZ: Oh my God, I’ve literally never heard of people doing that, but I lowkey might have to tell my family about that cause that sounds like such a fun time!

SALAS: Yeah, it is. Time goes really fast and sooner or later it’s like time to open gifts. What time do you open your gifts?

ALVAREZ: Well, it depends. Sometimes I’ll go over to visit my dad’s side of the family, and we’ll open gifts like late at night, like at 12 a.m. so on Christmas Eve. And then for my mom’s side of the family, we’ll go like in the morning to go open gifts after we open ours at home.

SALAS: My family opens gifts like usually like at 12 and then like once it’s morning we’ll go over to my grandma’s house and eat the leftovers.

ALVAREZ: Oh yeah, the recalentado in the morning. I love doing that, it’s super nice.

SALAS: I know it always tastes so much better in the mornings.

SALAS:To wrap things up, today’s podcast was all about the little things that make Christmas so special.

ALVAREZ: Whether it’s decorating our trees, listening to our favorite songs, or sharing meals and games with family, the holidays are all about creating memories and spending time with the people we love.

SALAS: We hope our traditions inspired you to think about your own and make this season extra meaningful.

SALAS, ALVAREZ: Thanks for tuning in, this is 2 Girls and One Mic signing off, Merry Christmas!