For the next couple weeks my public radio show (and podcast) Travel with Rick Steves will celebrate holiday traditions from around the world. Here is a short clip that explores the many different ways to say “Merry Christmas!” as a Scot.
To get all the more into the holiday spirit, I’d like to host a contest. Record a short audio file (mp3 preferably, 2 mins or less) on the theme, “A Global Holiday Season”. Tell a funny Christmas abroad story. Sing your favorite European carol. Enlighten us on a unique holiday tradition you’ve integrated into your own family’s celebration. Be creative!
Email the mp3 file to my publicist (media@ricksteves.com) by midnight on Monday the 19th, and I’ll choose my favorite three. The winners will get their story posted on my Facebook page, an autographed Rick Steves book of their choice, and the chance of their entry being aired on my Christmas 2012 radio show.
Good luck and Happy Holidays!
If you can’t see the video below, watch it on YouTube.
I don’t know how to send you a video, but I can tell you that my favourite tradition concerns baking. Every year for the past 35 years, I have chosen 12 of my favourite recipes to make in preparation for Christmas – kind of my version of the “12 days of Christmas”. As the years went by, I realized that many of my favourite recipes came from friends and family who shared their best recipes with me. Now I’m at the point where I choose specific recipes that represent 12 of my friends and family, and when I make that recipe, I think of the person and reflect on all the good times we’ve shared. It’s a meditation, it’s a prayer, and I can’t think of a more loving way of communing with that person, in my heart and across the miles.