The holidays are here again and our team at Snyder Entertainment could not be more excited. As holiday parties + events, weddings, and corporate gatherings start to slow down, we also try to slow down and soak up as much time with our families and friends as we can. We really like to celebrate + enjoy this season of cheer as much as possible both in the office and in our personal lives. Our team always gets together and celebrates another year of events gone by, and we set goals and plans for the coming new year. Aside from work, each one of us has traditions and memories of our own; some that we simply remember fondly and others that we repeat year after year. Here are some of our teams favorite holiday traditions, special memories, and tidings..
Brian Snyder | "This is my absolute favorite time of the year. It's my birthday month, my mom's birthday month, and four of my cousins birthday month as well. I always put the Christmas decorations up the day after Thanksgiving, and my little girls love to put out the inflatable mickey mouse dressed up like Santa outside and our other inflatable wiener dog dressed as an elf. We have two elves for the girls, named Bridgette and McKenna. Every year we attend Christmas Eve/candle light service as a family in celebration of the holidays. We always read the Christmas Story before we go to bed on Christmas Eve we watch Elf every year and Christmas Vacation, they seem to never get old. I normally put together a video for the family of the highlights of the year and we all get a good laugh. We wake up early and do Christmas morning with the girls every year at our house before heading to my mom and dads for brunch. Finally, we come home and celebrate Christmas with Ashley's family that evening. It is my favorite time of the year!"
I have a Christmas playlist that starts the day after Thanksgiving:
- Christmas song: Andrew Ripp, Joy To The World
- Christmas album: Dolly Parton/Kenny Rogers, A Hard Candy Christmas
- Favorite Christmas tradition (tied) between: Dave Barnes Christmas Concert and the Nolensville North Pole Experience
- Favorite Christmas memory: Our first year having a baby to spend Christmas morning with.
J Clark Anderson | "Throughout my life, there have been small moments that officially mark the arrival of Christmas!! In my early childhood, it wasn't truly Christmas until my Dad sat out bowls of Christmas colored M&M's, Hershey Kisses, and Snickers. In my teenage and college years the annual party at my old History professor's house would signal the coming of Christmas Eve. But as I've grown up and matured and truly have come to understand the true meaning of Christmas, and I have come to understand the symbol of hope that this time of year represents! But.. It still isn't Christmas until I see Hans Gruber fall from Nakatomi Tower!"
Brad Ford | I l-o-v-e decorations so every year I take a whole day off and decorate the entire house. We have the the stereotypical train under the tree, the Christmas Village and all the outside lights! We buy a real tree every year; it’s one of our favorite traditions to go to a tree lot and pick up an 8 ft tree and smell the fire that the guys have made at the lot. Some of our other traditions include going to Opryland to walk through the hotel seeing the lights and the giant nativity. I can’t think of a better place to really FEEL like Christmas! Of course we have all the Christmas movies; we have a stack of DVD’s we get our every year and we watch one pretty much every night of December. On Christmas eve we usually pull out White Christmas and watch it while we sip winter cocktails that I try to create. Then Christmas day we eat a HUGE breakfast that my wife Christi makes. It usually includes my favorite thing of all time: her sausage balls. We drink lots of coffee with whisper creek in it and we hit the presents. A couple of other things we do is take a night to go drive around looking at lights. We also always attend the Christmas Night at our church, Brentwood Baptist. They sing carols and light candles and it’s always a great moment that we can share together. Although we missed it this year because we were just too busy Chris and I also try to see the Brian Setzer Orchestra at the Ryman perform his annual Christmas tour. It’s amazing! Every year I hold a party for the guys. We call it the "Old Man Party." We dress in smoking jackets, bathrobes, pajamas, whatever. We smoke cigars, drink whiskey and listen to Sinatra. Sometimes we will play poker and basically just be a bunch of old men. In recent years we have started to invite the ladies. My favorite memory from that is when my friend Carrie dressed like her husband Jon for the party. It was perfect! Family is important to us and because we have family in different locations, so we get to celebrate Christmas several times a year. We always go to Chris’ family which, believe me, is a least 2 houses full of people! We also drive to Kentucky to spend a few days with my family. Merry Christmas!"
Jenny McGee | "Christmas is one of my very favorite times of the year! When I was little I would run to my brother John's room, wake him up, and then we would go and wake Mom and Dad up. I used to not be able to sleep and my Mom would have to tell me a million times that I had to go bed or Santa wouldn't be able to come. I can remember one Christmas in particular, we woke up at the crack of dawn, ran downstairs and I remember thinking "there are presents everywhere!" Now that I'm older, Christmas just means so much more to me than any gifts or presents that I could receive. I always think of my Grandma Renwick during this time because my Grandma used to come and stay with us during the holidays. I can still hear her voice and see her walking into the living room wearing a long robe telling my Dad not to record her. She would sneak me chocolates and give me cough drops when my parents weren't looking, and she always let me have a sleepover in her room. Although she's gone to Heaven, I always wish that she was here with us just for one more Christmas morning. We don't have a ton of traditions but the ones that we do include: as a family we always watch It's A Wonderful Life on Christmas Eve, I drink a "real" Coke every Christmas Eve, and we usually have dinner all together on Christmas Eve. On Christmas morning we wake up and Mom has usually beat everybody else up and is making breakfast, which I look forward to every single year. She makes my favorite breakfast item ever: sausage balls. Dad always has the camcorder and every year he asks us the same question, "It's Christmas *insert year here* what are you most thankful for?" That is probably my favorite Christmas tradition that we have. After breakfast we open gifts and spend the rest of the day in our pajamas, lounging and watching Christmas movies. Last year was the first year that I wasn't at home with my parents and it was much more difficult than I thought it would be. Being away from home made me appreciate the special memories that I'll always have of Christmas, and made me understand the lyrics of "I'll Be Home for Christmas" that much more."
As a reminder, our office is closed beginning Wednesday, December 21st and will reopen on Tuesday, December 27th in observance of the holidays. We will follow up on all of our missed calls + messages upon returning. This holiday season, we hope that you take time to enjoy every moment surrounded by your loved ones. Merry Christmas + Happy Holidays!
