Closed Cookie's Celebratory Compositions

[Mairmalade]

​

The holidays bring about busy, stressful, yet beautiful moments. As you roam the holiday market, you’re bound to treat your senses to delicious food, lavish handmade gifts, and exciting attractions that only appear during this time of year.

There’s a sense of magic as everyone chit-chats and bustles about – and what better way to enjoy this magic than to share stories and photos that celebrate our culture and traditions during the holiday season from all around the world?

How to Participate

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Your task is to compose a 200-500 word piece to share how you and/or your family and friends celebrate the holidays AND share a single picture that illustrates this (either a drawing, photograph, or in-game screenshot from Animal Crossing: New Horizons). Examples include traditions, activities you enjoy doing, foods you like, etc. during this time of the year. Or maybe you like to celebrate by doing something in-game!

Please place both your story and picture in a single post within this thread.

If you don't celebrate anything, you're welcome to write about how you ring in the new year.

The entry deadline is December 25, 2021, at 11:59 p.m. EST. Entries submitted after this will not be accepted.

Rules and Submission Guidelines

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• Once your entry is posted, it is final. Please do not edit your post for any reason unless requested by the host
• Entries should be prose - poetry will not be accepted for this event
• Your submission must be within the word limit of 200-500 words. Please use this word counter tool prior to posting
• Only one entry is allowed per person
• Your entry post must include your story AND a picture that illustrates what you're writing about
• Pictures (e.g.: drawings, photographs, and in-game screenshots) and text must be your own work. No collaborations, using a previously created work, or using a photo/drawing that is not your own
• Content must be suitable for a PG-13 audience
• A reasonable amount of effort should be evident. Entries we believe lack effort, or are submitted jokingly, will be disqualified
• Your TBT username MUST be present on a physical name card (photographs) or directly on your picture (digital and hand-drawn drawings)

Prizes

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Participation

• 60 Silver Bells

First Place

• 
  Gold Trophy Collectible
• 
  Animated Snow Globe Collectible
• 300 TBT Bells

Second Place

• 
  Silver Trophy Collectible
• 300 TBT Bells

Third Place

• 
  Bronze Trophy Collectible
• 300 TBT Bells

Fourth Place

• 300 TBT Bells

Fifth Place

• 300 TBT Bells

Entries that are nominated to go to the community poll will also receive an additional 60 Silver Bells, though the exact number of entries will be determined in the staff voting phase.

Frequently Asked Questions

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Q: Can I handwrite my entry on paper?
A: No, please have your submission typed into your entry post.

Q: How will favorites be selected?
A: The staff will review and nominate entries to go to a community poll. The community will then vote for their favorites which will determine first, second, third, fourth, and fifth place.

Q: Can my entry be a work of fiction?
A: No, your entry should describe how you personally celebrate the holidays or New Year's.

Q: I'm not sure if my entry will be accepted - what should I do?
A: If you're having doubts about your idea being acceptable, please send me a PM so we can look at it together prior to posting your entry. You're welcome to ask your questions within this thread as well.

Q: How will I know if my entry is accepted?
A: Your entry post will be marked with a green 'Accepted' reaction if it has been accepted*

*Please allow time for this. Entries will be reviewed mostly during evenings (EST) with the exception of December 24 - I will, unfortunately, not have internet access or time to check TBT on this day.

May your holidays be merry and bright ​

 

[LambdaDelta]

I know this is too late for this event, but for future stuffs, can I formally request to not have events that require us to disclose our personal lives with no other alternative?

as I'm personally strictly against doing as such under any circumstances, and I certainly can't be the only one that feels that way

 

[Neurotiker]

I know this is too late for this event, but for future stuffs, can I formally request to not have events that require us to disclose our personal lives with no other alternative?

as I'm personally strictly against doing as such under any circumstances, and I certainly can't be the only one that feels that way

Agreed. An additional problem I have with this personally is that I just don't celebrate either of the two so I'm scratching my head as to what I'm supposed to write lol. I mean you could always lie about this kind of stuff and staff is going to have to take your word for it but I'd feel a little bad having to lie in order to participate. On the other hand, wouldn't blame anyone for doing it if they don't get offered an alternative

I myself am not in a cozy enough situation to even be thinking about celebrating anything but I guess I'm just going to have to put exactly that into 200 words or more for a mediocre entry

 

[Mairmalade]

I know this is too late for this event, but for future stuffs, can I formally request to not have events that require us to disclose our personal lives with no other alternative?

as I'm personally strictly against doing as such under any circumstances, and I certainly can't be the only one that feels that way

Agreed. An additional problem I have with this personally is that I just don't celebrate either of the two so I'm scratching my head as to what I'm supposed to write lol. I mean you could always lie about this kind of stuff and staff is going to have to take your word for it but I'd feel a little bad having to lie in order to participate. On the other hand, wouldn't blame anyone for doing it if they don't get offered an alternative

I myself am not in a cozy enough situation to even be thinking about celebrating anything but I guess I'm just going to have to put exactly that into 200 words or more for a mediocre entry

You don’t need to go into great specific detail that may reveal something you’d rather keep private.

Even if you don't celebrate something specific, you may write about what you enjoy doing, about foods you like, movies you enjoy watching, or things you enjoy seeing during this time of year (e.g.: lights, displays, other holiday-related events).

Hope this helps a little bit!

 

[daringred_]

when it says story, does it mean, like, an actual story or just explaining what you do? as in, "i sit on my knees and lift the neatly wrapped box closest to me, noting that it weighs very little" vs. "at the crack of dawn, we get together and open our presents. when everyone's done, we clear away the wrapping paper, etc."? very confused by the wording.

 

[Neurotiker]

You don’t need to go into great specific detail that may reveal something you’d rather keep private.

Even if you don't celebrate something specific, you may write about what you enjoy doing, about foods you like, movies you enjoy watching, or things you enjoy seeing during this time of year (e.g.: lights, displays, other holiday-related events).

Hope this helps a little bit!

It helps a tiny bit, thank you mar I didn't want to come off as a grumbler, just a bit concerned is all. These kinds of tasks transport me back to my school years tbh lol

 

[Mairmalade]

when it says story, does it mean, like, an actual story or just explaining what you do? as in, "i sit on my knees and lift the neatly wrapped box closest to me, noting that it weighs very little" vs. "at the crack of dawn, we get together and open our presents. when everyone's done, we clear away the wrapping paper, etc."? very confused by the wording.

The primary objective is to share text on how you celebrate the holidays or New Year's. Maybe tradition(s), things you enjoy doing, etc. I can adjust this in the OP to make this more clear.

 

[boring]

Can I post a real life photo? and may i include two

 

[kiwikenobi]

I don't do much holiday stuff. Particularly this year. I've had a heck of a year. But I do have one small new year's tradition that I've written about and illustrated here.

Spoiler: New Year's Sunrise

On the first dawn of the first day of the new year, I wake up much earlier than I usually do in order to go outside and wait for the sun to rise. It's cold and gray, the world lacking color or any signs of life. I can see my breath in the air in fine, silvery clouds of mist. And then slowly, so slowly I can hardly tell it's happening at first, the first sliver of the sun starts to show over the hills. Even that tiny fragment of the sun is too bright to look at directly, and I squint and hold up my hand to shield my eyes, but I can't help wanting to look anyway, and I take tiny, careful peeks at the first sunrise of the new year. The sun rises higher, the world gradually becoming brighter and brighter. Shadows start to appear, colors fade into being, the world wakes up for the first time this year. Though it's still cold, I can feel the faint warmth of the sun on my face. It's a beautiful sight, this spectacle of nature doing what it has always done.
And I only wish that I had someone else to watch it with me.

 

[boring]

I spent my early years celebrating Christmas with my ENTIRE Jewish family. The reason I say this is because I come from a big family; I am one of six children, the oldest of 11 cousins. My family is so big that Christmas at my Nan's house meant her whole living room and dining room were converted into one long dinner table, with at least 30 seats for the immediate family, and it was always fantastically decorated white and red (glitter everywhere), as was traditional for my decor-obsessed grandparents. We would sit down for a dinner, every plate would have a Christmas Cracker and we would all lock arms, all 30 of us at the same time, and pull on the crackers to see who would win. We would eat a massive and dramatic dinner, cooking for the entire 12 hours leading up to the 6pm meal, and my cousins and I would play games with the dog, Barney, who was a very *very* chonky Labrador.

When I was 5, we moved to my mother's hometown for the first time and it was there I had my first one of these Christmas'. I remember it clearly not because of the dinner table, or because of how my cousins would, as children do, demand to play my Gameboy with me, but because of the gift I got for that first Christmas.
Despite our Jewish-ness, Christmas was the one holiday my entire family would lose their mind over. Even dirt broke they would spend hundreds of pounds to make it a perfect Christmas for the children of the family, and presents were no exception to this. My Nan sat me down with my Mother and a cousin on Christmas Day 2009 and gave me a gift that seemed to forever impact what I would grow up to be interested in: a Black Nintendo DS Lite with 5 games - One of these games was Animal Crossing Wild World. I was immediately hooked on this game and so it marked the beginning of a uniquely 'me' tradition within our family - Every year I got something new from Animal Crossing from my family.
I have never found the same appeal in Christmas, preferring our traditional holidays over it, but every year since 2009, my family have enabled me to enjoy Christmas as much as they do, by catering to me too; by showing me that they value me as part of the family and care about my interests and who I am. It may seem silly, but the gesture makes all the difference.
It would not be a Christmas in my family without several things: a massive group of people, a house decorated to the core, loud festive music from the TV... and a small five-year-old me with what would become my favorite game of all time, and my fixation for the next 13 years.

Spoiler: I created one of those dinners in ACNH:

 

[Mairmalade]

I spent my early years celebrating Christmas with my ENTIRE Jewish family. The reason I say this is because I come from a big family; I am one of six children, the oldest of 11 cousins. My family is so big that Christmas at my Nan's house meant her whole living room and dining room were converted into one long dinner table, with at least 30 seats for the immediate family, and it was always fantastically decorated white and red (glitter everywhere), as was traditional for my decor-obsessed grandparents. We would sit down for a dinner, every plate would have a Christmas Cracker and we would all lock arms, all 30 of us at the same time, and pull on the crackers to see who would win. We would eat a massive and dramatic dinner, cooking for the entire 12 hours leading up to the 6pm meal, and my cousins and I would play games with the dog, Barney, who was a very *very* chonky Labrador.

When I was 5, we moved to my mother's hometown for the first time and it was there I had my first one of these Christmas'. I remember it clearly not because of the dinner table, or because of how my cousins would, as children do, demand to play my Gameboy with me, but because of the gift I got for that first Christmas.
Despite our Jewish-ness, Christmas was the one holiday my entire family would lose their mind over. Even dirt broke they would spend hundreds of pounds to make it a perfect Christmas for the children of the family, and presents were no exception to this. My Nan sat me down with my Mother and a cousin on Christmas Day 2009 and gave me a gift that seemed to forever impact what I would grow up to be interested in: a Black Nintendo DS Lite with 5 games - One of these games was Animal Crossing Wild World. I was immediately hooked on this game and so it marked the beginning of a uniquely 'me' tradition within our family - Every year I got something new from Animal Crossing from my family.
I have never found the same appeal in Christmas, preferring our traditional holidays over it, but every year since 2009, my family have enabled me to enjoy Christmas as much as they do, by catering to me too; by showing me that they value me as part of the family and care about my interests and who I am. It may seem silly, but the gesture makes all the difference.
It would not be a Christmas in my family without several things: a massive group of people, a house decorated to the core, loud festive music from the TV... and a small five-year-old me with what would become my favorite game of all time, and my fixation for the next 13 years.

Spoiler: Snowman Photos from my Childhood!

In these photos its 2009, Im 5. The year I moved to this city and got ACWW.
View attachment 418772

Hi there, we would not be able to accept this image. You are welcome to edit your post with a real-life photo taken to include your TBT username on a physical name card, create a hand or digitally drawn picture with your TBT username on it, or a screenshot from Animal Crossing: New Horizons that illustrates something from your text.

 

[boring]

Hi there, we would not be able to accept this image. You are welcome to edit your post with a real-life photo taken to include your TBT username on a physical name card, create a hand or digitally drawn picture with your TBT username on it, or a screenshot from Animal Crossing: New Horizons that illustrates something from your text.

I updated it with a recreated of the dinners we would have as a kid, I hope that's okay!

 

[Mistreil]

I'm not allowed to enter, but I wanted to share my holiday traditions too! 'tis the season, sharing is caring, and all that business (´▽｀)

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I celebrate the holidays in the way I know best: in a constant state of stress! In the past I would count the days until I have to return to school, and now it's the days until I return to work. There's always so many things I want to do: play games, draw, sleep, draw, sleep, play games, sleep -- the list goes on!

I have friends whose islands I raid every holiday, taking in the sights and their lovely decorations. We take screenshots, chase each other with axes, and as of 2.0, play reverse-musical-chairs at Brewster's in order to pay for drinks! I'd expect the coming holiday to follow the same routine, and as always, I'll return to my island which I have yet to decorate and decide to do so! Get it into the holiday spirit! ... Before remembering that I remember I have art I need to finish.

Thus I return to my tablet to draw, and then decide between art I want to finish and art I said I'd finish days weeks months ago and make some leeway on one or the other. Rarely both, but who knows? Maybe this year will be different!
(The past few years have proven otherwise. Perhaps that's a tradition at this point, too?)

Playing and drawings are all good and fun, but I always have a period where I think that maybe I should rest. Take it easy while I don't have actual work to do: don't stress about decorating, don't stress about art, just sleep in and enjoy myself!
(But that's a waste of what little holiday time I have, isn't it?! I know it's not, and yet.)

This annual dilemma plagues me throughout the entire holiday season. At the very least, holiday foods always bring me solace. Namely enjoying a bowl of tangyuan for the winter solstice! The combination of brown sugar and ginger melting my stress away (or at least burning my throat), the dumplings sticking together to look like butts... truly one of the highlights of my holidays.

I really do enjoy the holidays, but I wanted to be honest!
gotta stay off that naughty list.
​

 

[Sidney]

My family normally doesn’t do a lot for the holidays. There’s not any special super-secret traditions or anything of the like.
It’s all pretty normal, basic holiday routine.
Still, the holidays are special to me as I finally get to be home, away from school for a small break.
My favorite part of the holidays is being able to be home and see my little sister, as I’m normally away at school. We like to make cookies together, decorate them, and most especially- eat them! We build gingerbread houses, add terrible icing designs to cookies that are sugary enough to eat without, eat sprinkles and icing right out of the can...My sister’s a good bit younger than me, so we don’t often have many things we can both enjoy and do together. Luckily, she seems to be rather interested in baking with me! Baking is one my all time favorite activities, and holidays ARE the best time to bake! I think we may even be leaving out cookies for Jingle too this year, as my sister has recently gotten into animal crossing as well! That makes at least TWO things we can share! This year’ll also be her first Toy Day, so i’m hoping she’ll enjoy that with me too

To represent us, i’ve made a little scene in ACNH!

 

[Mairmalade]

I'll join in too! Of course, staff entries are not eligible.

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I never liked holiday parties or large gatherings. Instead, one tradition of mine was to wrap myself up on my bed with a blanket, coffee, and Animal Crossing. Whenever the 24th arrived, I loaded Animal Crossing: New Leaf - now New Horizons - to deliver gifts to all my villagers who were always so much easier to get gifts for. I loved wandering around to admire the winter atmosphere and usually invited a few online friends over for a quick trip to Tortimer Island to get away from the snow and spend some time together.

After celebrating Toy Day is where annual holiday panic creeps in. My family and I do a gift exchange and I leave wrapping until the last possible minute. I tape mismatched pieces of tissue paper together to try and create something presentable or make use of gift bags to hide the uneven folds. My poor wrapping skills quickly became a humorous tradition of their own.

Christmas Eve is also home to pizza-making (and eating), poker, watching the movie Christmas Vacation, and reading through the events of previous years. My mother keeps track of all the holiday highlights and writes them down in folding notecards. She has been doing this since I was born so it's always fun to read through events that happened when I was little.

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...and I've tried to recreate some of these items as a little drawing (bottom-left is indeed a 3DS):

 

[xSuperMario64x]

this might be tricky since my family's holiday traditions have sorta..... fallen apart over the last few years ;w;

though I just set a new tradition for myself today so maybe I can talk about that ☺

 

[Megaroni]

this might be tricky since my family's holiday traditions have sorta..... fallen apart over the last few years ;w;

though I just set a new tradition for myself today so maybe I can talk about that ☺

Same here. My family and I used to celebrate the holidays but this year we can't do them together anymore. Luckily I have some really good friends I'm celebrating with that will definitely make it easier.

This post isn't me complaining about how the event is structured, just about my personal life lol

 

[Biyaya]

Hey! My old story from a past event is still in the word count tool!

Anyways, I'm excited to read what people have to share! I don't feel like I really do anything, so it's nice garnering ideas. ☺

 

[tessa grace]

When the holiday season rolls around each year, my mom spends hours preparing a lot of food for different festivities. We can’t possibly let her cook so much in December, right? And everyone else’s skills in the home with food is… lacking. Instead, we do something else. We’ve had the tradition for as long as I can remember- going out to eat for dinner on Christmas Eve.

Now I’m not talking Olive Garden, or Costa Vida, or Denny’s. We get some more unique food each year. My uncle’s family tags along when we go to all sorts of foreign places. I’ve tried Indian cuisine, Mexican, Vietnamese, Japanese, Thai, all sorts of European food, and much more. There’s been plenty of eventful experiences we’ve had!

The food is always delicious. We’ve been able to eat so many new and incredible things! I really love the drunken noodles from a local authentic Thai place we’ve been to several times. Or the heartwarming Pho, a Vietnamese soup full of meat, warm broth, and a colorful array of herbs, vegetables, and spices. Every curry in existence is always rich in flavor, color, and culture. That curry from the Indian place we went to really was delectable! Drinks and dessert, of course, are never forgotten. Me and my older sister for like, 4 years straight, tried to order a mango smoothie from every place we went to. Sometimes there would be boba inside, or it it was thick and chunky, or even it was watery and subtle. No matter how the taste of anything we ate differed, you could tell that tons of hard work was put into each and every dish.

I remember learning about the culture and beginning to somewhat understand the beauty of each restaurant we ate at. There was always something from that country on display. Whether it be photographs and paintings, pottery, flowers, or even phrases on the wall in that country’s main language, it felt like a treat to learn something new.

By the time our stomachs get happily full, we would all hurry home to enjoy some eggnog and wear brand new pajamas. We have my grandpa, who is old and suffering from Alzheimer’s disease, read us a special Christmas story each year. It’s hard for him to remember a lot, and I’ve grown up watching him know all about my interests, to not knowing how to drive, and even forgetting my name. I never see him cry except for on Christmas Eve when he reads the same story to all the family. It touches all our hearts.

I’m grateful that I get to have such a wonderful Christmas Eve. Because of the hard work of the people who serve us that food every year, we all get to spend more time together during the holidays.

I’ve included a small drawing I did of some Pho! I wrote “eat up” in many different languages, because food is universal, and so are the friendships we make through that food.

Spoiler: Yummy Pho!

 

[~Kilza~]

I love this time of year, and one of the main reasons why is due to the tradition of taking time off of work around this time. Obviously, schools have breaks during this time, and I’ve wanted to keep that going even after I graduated school. So I always use up the bulk of my vacation days around Christmas time so that I’m able to have like 2-3 weeks to just relax, not think about work, not go anywhere, sleep in, play video games (both old ones and any new ones I get during Christmas) and watch hockey. I also start off my holiday break and celebrate it by going to get poutine. I love poutine, but I only get it biyearly, so marking the start of my holiday break with poutine makes it all the more special.

For Christmas itself, my family does have a tradition of celebrating on Christmas Eve, which we’ve done since I was born. I’ve always looked forward to this day ever since I was a kid. We have a meal consisting mainly of appetizers (so food like jelly balls, sausage rolls, a shrimp ring, etc.) that I always enjoy, then once we’re done eating we open up the presents under our tree. I’ve had control of passing out the presents for the longest time, so I’ll grab some presents, hand them out, and then we open them one at a time and see what each one of us got, and repeat the process until there are no more presents. We also have a phone call with my aunt and uncle during the day and talk with them for over an hour, as they did use to come and celebrate Christmas Eve with us in-person, but stopped coming after my grandma died years ago.

Christmas Day itself tends to be more lowkey, but we have a tradition for it as well. Our tradition consists of opening up stocking stuffers during the afternoon, and then having the standard turkey dinner that evening. As well, I spend most of the day just playing one of the new games I got the day before, which is always nice.

As for the picture, I've decided to represent our Christmas Eve in New Horizons: