It’s the Most WINE-derful Time of The Year…
It’s the holiday season—hooray! At Digital Storyteller, we love our team (and no, it’s not just because our bosses got us boujee gifts like custom tumblers and embroidered Lululemon hoodies…)
With Christmas right around the corner, we’re sharing the opportunity to get to know the parts that make our team who we are. I mean, our team is awesome! We hire for people, which yes, we know, is a little unconventional these days… But hey! It’s working for us. We pride ourselves on having amazing company culture. Want to take a peak?
Keep reading to hear some of our team’s favorite holiday traditions, Christmas songs that make them cringe, and for FUN holiday photos!
The Founders
Q: What is your favorite family tradition?
A: “My mom took me to see the Nutcracker every year at Christmas at Lincoln Center in NYC (where I’m from) we’d dress up and go out in the cold and take the subway up to the theatre. We did that every year for 30 years. Now, I take Ella, my daughter every year. The best part is the time together and being unnecessarily judg-y about the dancers! I also love to go get the Christmas tree and decorate while listening to Christmas music and having eggnog with bourbon.”
-Amanda Rogers, Founder Chief Creative Officer
Q: What do you like most about Christmas?
A: “What I like the most about Christmas is opening gifts on Christmas morning. I haven’t learned how to ask for something in a way that doesn’t end up with 5 of them. But I kind of like that. Amanda bought me 5 cashmere sweaters last year. I had mentioned that I’d like a cashmere sweater… We live in San Diego. Just saying.”
-Andrew Marr, Owner, CEO
The Content Team
Q: What is your favorite family tradition?
A: “My family spends every Christmas Eve cooking up a huge meal! We make tamales, turkey, ham, pepian, and many other yummy traditional Guatemalan dishes.”
“After cooking, we feast on all of the dishes we worked so hard to make together while catching up with family we haven’t seen in a while. We chat, reminisce over old memories, and play games until the clock strikes midnight. Once midnight hits, all of the kids (yes that still includes me) zoom to the Christmas tree to open presents. We’re all usually up until 2 am playing with our new gifts or still chatting together.
“It’s one of my favorite family traditions because it’s rooted in spending quality time together and making more cherished memories.” —Beatriz Carias, Content Specialist
Q: What is a funny family tradition of yours?
A: “My family always wears these glasses when they pick me up at the airport!” —Kelsey Arvidson, Content Specialist
Q: What is your favorite family tradition?
A: “My favorite holiday tradition is on Christmas Eve all the young cousins sit together in the master bedroom and read Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (which over the years has been not so subtly turned into a drinking game for adults participating…) We read the story as we listen for Santa’s bells. When we hear the sleigh bells ring, all the kids race down the stairs and run down the driveway to try to catch Santa and the reindeer and find what presents he left them on the front porch. It’s a tradition that I’ve done my entire life and have loved to share with my little cousins since.” —Devin Aubert, SEO Manager
Q: What is your favorite family tradition?
A: “My favorite family tradition is something my family calls ‘family baking day!’ Every year in December, my family heads over to my Grandma’s house early in the morning to bake over 1,000 cookies! We bake every kind of cookie you can think of. My favorites are the ‘Turtles’—pretzels, topped with a Rolo and a pecan. Then, we package up the cookies for teachers, family, and friends. It takes all day!” —Becca Jones, Content Specialist
Q: What is your favorite family tradition?
A: “My favorite family tradition during the holidays is Christmas morning. Ever since I was a young girl, we would wake up at 5 am and wait in one of the siblings rooms for our parents to call us down. We would run out of the room, my parents with a video recorder in hand, with grins from ear to ear. After we finish opening up our gifts, my mom starts making breakfast and the smell of bacon flows throughout the house.” —Jackie Berens, Client Success Manager
The Design Team
Q: What is your favorite family tradition?
A: “My favorite holiday tradition is decorating my home and Christmas tree with my family! Every year, we light the fire pit, blast Christmas music, hang garland and streamers around the windows and staircase, put ornaments on the tree, and drink hot cocoa. And of course, the tradition wouldn’t be the same without our dogs going insane and trying to eat all of the decorations in the process!” —Magdi Cook, Graphic and Web Design Manager
Q: What kind of holiday shopper are you: Black Friday? Christmas Eve? Yearlong hoarder?
A: “I’m a year-long shopper because most of my gifts end up being handmade, and that takes time. So, if it’s a cross-stitch, painted ornament, or re-covered book, it’s a year-long process to get it planned and looking good!” —Shay Larby, Junior Graphic Designer
The Social Team
Q: What kind of holiday shopper are you: Black Friday? Christmas Eve? Yearlong hoarder?
A: “Holiday shopping is my one excuse to shop because it’s all on sale, but that doesn’t stop me from shopping all year round of course… ;)” —Caroline LoPresti, Social Media Manager
Q: What is your favorite family tradition? And what Christmas song makes you cringe?
A: My favorite family tradition is taking snowy walks in the city to get hot chocolate when I go home to Boston. The Christmas song that makes me cringe is… nope, can’t think of a single one they are all amazing…especially the Michael Bublé Christmas album (obvi)!” —Chris Preller, Social Media Coordinator
Q: What is your favorite family tradition?
A: “My favorite family tradition is our white elephant gift exchange that we have on Christmas Eve. Everyone contributes very random gifts, some good and some bad. My favorite gifts that I’ve ended up with were the Snoop Dogg cookbook and a blanket hoodie!” —Madi Lindley, Social Media Specialist
Are you in desperate need of some last-minute gift ideas? Check out this article where we detail holiday gifting strategies for B2B businesses!
