Marketing on traditions — making the most out of the most wonderful time of the year

“Dear Santa, just leave your credit card under the tree.”

Thanksgiving brings with it the beginning of holiday celebrations. And this year I finally got up the courage to fly to St. Louis and visit my family.

Coming home felt especially poignant after last year’s disconnection and isolation. Me, my sister, and my nieces, had a blast catching up and stuffing ourselves with traditional holiday food: turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, See’s Candies chocolates, and my sister’s “to die for” pumpkin pie with pralines…Yummy! Then of course we continued to celebrate in our more or less traditional American-Jewish fashion.

Watching Christmas movies

As kids — we would watch Holiday Inn, White Christmas, It’s a Wonderful Life, Meet Me in St. Louis & Miracle on 34th Street. As we entered our teens — we watched first run movies at my grandfather’s movie theater called The Uptown seeing holiday classics like Babes in Toyland, Sound of Music, Mary Poppins and How the Grinch Stole Christmas. And, of course during our college years and beyond we continued this holiday tradition seeing well known films released on Christmas Eve (Trading Places, Love Actually & Serendipity). Now, the tradition still continues (albeit at home) watching Hallmark…