Dear Reader --
Today's winter solstice marks the beginning of the winter season when the darkness reaches its peak in the Northern Hemisphere. But with the solstice comes the promise of brighter days ahead. After today, the days will gradually grow longer, reminding us that light and hope are just around the corner, even in the darkest times.
Soon, people will gather with their friends and family to celebrate the winter holidays. The holidays are sometimes filled with unrealistic expectations, disappointment, and anxiety. It’s important not to lose sight of the value of fostering community.
Community is at the heart of the human experience. It’s where we find belonging and shared purpose. In an increasingly polarized society, coming together is more important than ever. Whether it’s a small group of friends at a holiday party or a large collective working toward a common goal, the act of gathering creates an energy that transcends any individual’s effort.
Chef Alice Waters once wisely said:
“This is the power of gathering: it inspires us, delightfully, to be more hopeful, more joyful, more thoughtful: in a word, more alive.”
As we prepare for 2025, let’s remember the power of gathering and that building community helps us not only survive but thrive.
RepresentWomen is taking time off until January to rest, regroup, and reenergize ourselves for the new year. While we will continue to fight for a fair and representative democracy, now is the perfect time to embrace the spirit of gathering and connection. Hear from the RepresentWomen team about their holiday traditions, recipes, and plans this week.
Katie Usalis, Partnerships Manager
The Usalis family had a few fun holiday traditions when I was growing up! We always did stockings first and had to close our eyes as we walked past the tree to the fireplace where our stockings were hung (and there was always at least one apple or orange in our stockings). We also always watched the movie Chevy Chase’s Christmas Vacation, and I remember loving hearing my mom laugh and laugh every single year. We also would make sure to catch a performance of A Christmas Carol, always at the Playhouse in the Park in my hometown of Cincinnati. This year, since I live in Barcelona, I will be spending Christmas exploring the Christmas markets in Prague, which has been a dream of mine for many years!
Arianna Conte, Communications Manager
Christmas in my family is all about the food! For as long as I can remember, I have celebrated the Italian tradition of the Seven Fishes on Christmas Eve. Every December 24th, my parents throw a party with all sorts of traditional (and non-traditional) seafood for our family, friends, and neighbors, including clam cakes and chowder, lobster fra diavolo, calamari, smelts, and bacon-wrapped scallops. We’d end the night by playing cards, watching movies, laughing, and telling stories in our PJs. The food is fantastic, don’t get me wrong, but I absolutely love the time spent together with the people I care about most.
Alissa Bombardier Shaw, Outreach Manager
Every year on Christmas Eve, my family has a Swedish Christmas dinner! There are several courses with some of my favorite dishes, including homemade Swedish meatballs and pickles, deviled eggs, pickled herring (only a small serving for me), and mulled wine. We always open one present after dinner, too. My favorite holiday is New Year's Eve and I’m excited to celebrate with family and friends in San Diego this year! I love staying up until midnight and the excitement of starting a new chapter in my life. I hope you all have a very Happy Holidays!
Ria Deshmukh, Digital Media Manager
The winter holidays are my favorite time of the year because it is the only time when my whole family is home for more than a couple of weeks. Our holiday traditions include taking our dog Hank to see holiday lights, cooking and eating meals together, playing cards, and ending each night with a cup of hot chocolate. Since my mom's birthday is around Christmas time, we also celebrate her during the holidays. I bake her a new cake every year. Last year, I added a fun twist to a chocolate cake by adding orange zest to the batter. My holiday plans this year are to cherish and celebrate my loved ones and rest up so I can hit the ground running in 2025!
Ashley Thurston, Communications Director
The Christmas holidays are a celebration of our family's traditions. We always wear matching pajamas with a new theme each year. We gather each Christmas Eve to make a gingerbread house and cookies for Santa with the kids. It started with just us, but now our closest friends come to participate in the festive activities. The kids also open up one present. We end the night with a toast with hot chocolate. We also attend Christmas brunch the next morning and late on Christmas night, we order food from Waffle House. I look forward to our Christmas family time all year; it is one of our favorite overall family traditions.
Marvelous Maeze, Research Associate
This year, I’m looking forward to spending the holidays with my family and loved ones. I can’t wait to cook, decorate, and enjoy cozy nights watching holiday movies together. One of my favorite things about the winter season is the time it gives you to reflect on the past year and get excited about what’s ahead. I also love the sense of cheer that fills the air, with people making a conscious effort to be present, joyful, and grateful.
I have two favorite holiday traditions. The first is volunteering the day after Christmas—it's always a meaningful way to give back. The second is opening a few Christmas gifts on Christmas Eve. In my family, we also wait until Christmas Eve to place some gifts under the tree, so there's always an element of surprise because we never quite know how many presents we'll get.
Cynthia Richie Terrell, executive director
When my grandmother was a child she and her siblings went to school on Christmas Day because my Quaker ancestors believed that it was important to celebrate the principles of equality and love every day of the year. While I still try to live my Quaker values I will admit that I love celebrating this time of year. The season begins with our annual holiday party that includes cheese in various forms (fondue & baked), lots of cookies, a Buche de Noel, outside fires, evergreens, and caroling. We also recite The Shortest Day and sing A Song of Peace, together every year – it’s always a memorable moment amidst the merriment.
Ginger pigs
Sugar cookies
Buche de Noel
Candied orange peel
Chocolate truffles
Meringue mushrooms for the Buche!
Almond biscotti
We always have gender balance on the tree.
My family also has a long-standing tradition of reading aloud together on Christmas Eve and focusing on handmade gifts – at this point in the year I am always trying to finish multiple knitting projects! Here is my favorite excerpt from the chapter we always read from The Wind in the Willows:
There was no more talk of play-acting once the very real and solid contents of the basket had been tumbled out on the table. Under the generalship of Rat, everybody was set to do something or to fetch something. In a very few minutes supper was ready, and Mole, as he took the head of the table in a sort of a dream, saw a lately barren board set thick with savoury comforts; saw his little friends' faces brighten and beam as they fell to without delay; and then let himself loose—for he was famished indeed—on the provender so magically provided, thinking what a happy home-coming this had turned out, after all. As they ate, they talked of old times, and the field-mice gave him the local gossip up to date, and answered as well as they could the hundred questions he had to ask them. The Rat said little or nothing, only taking care that each guest had what he wanted, and plenty of it, and that Mole had no trouble or anxiety about anything….
The weary Mole also was glad to turn in without delay, and soon had his head on his pillow, in great joy and contentment. But ere he closed his eyes he let them wander round his old room, mellow in the glow of the firelight that played or rested on familiar and friendly things which had long been unconsciously a part of him, and now smilingly received him back, without rancour. He was now in just the frame of mind that the tactful Rat had quietly worked to bring about in him. He saw clearly how plain and simple—how narrow, even—it all was; but clearly, too, how much it all meant to him, and the special value of some such anchorage in one's existence. He did not at all want to abandon the new life and its splendid spaces, to turn his back on sun and air and all they offered him and creep home and stay there; the upper world was all too strong, it called to him still, even down there, and he knew he must return to the larger stage. But it was good to think he had this to come back to; this place which was all his own, these things which were so glad to see him again and could always be counted upon for the same simple welcome.
My husband and I started our own tradition to complete the holiday season which entails burning the gingerbread houses we have made and making wishes for the new year – which feels like a fitting end to our festivities.
We burn the gingerbread houses on New Year’s Eve!
Every year I start paperwhites around Thanksgiving so that they are blooming by late December – they are a lovely and sweet reminder of the Spring flowers that await us.
RepresentWomen wishes you a very happy holiday season. Thank you for your support, and see you in 2025!
-The RepresentWomen Team
P.S.
We’ve got the perfect feminist holiday playlist for your next gathering. Celebrate women and get into the holiday spirit with “Feminist Holiday Hits!” It is available on Spotify.