So whether you’re celebrating in a 100-yearold adobe in Taos or a one-year-old loft in Albuquerque, the weeks between Thanksgiving and New Years are the best time to re-enact old traditions and create new ones, and if you need some inspiration to get you started, here’s an offering of holiday traditions of a few of New Mexico’s favorite business women.

It’s not surprising that many of us build our holiday around the luminaria. Maria Griego- Raby, owner of Contract Associates, says some of her earliest and happiest memories revolve around those sand-filled paper bags.

“The entire neighborhood put out luminarias in the morning on Christmas Eve, no matter how cold it was,” she says. “And just before dark, we’d light them, then go to Midnight Mass, come home, and eat posole.”

Griego-Raby speaks of present-day traditions, saying “Now my husband and I have a home near Old Town and instead of going to Midnight Mass, we take our son Francisco to the children’s mass and then light the luminarias. I guess I’m just too old to stay up that late!”

Last year they started a new tradition. She continues, “We joined another family and assembled underwear, scarves, children’s gifts, and toiletries and distributed them to the homeless. I want Francisco to understand that other people have needs and the holidays are more than Santa Claus.”

Another business woman, Maria Estela de Ríos, co-owner with her husband of ORION International Technologies, Inc., says that luminarias are their adopted New Mexico holiday tradition.

“We set out more than 400 traditional luminarias every year, she says. “Never the electric ones, we don’t take short cuts. We light them around midnight, before we go to Midnight Mass, we stand in front of our home and admire the beautiful lights.”

Rebecca C. Trujillo, Investor Relations Director for Albuquerque Economic Development Inc., says her family has kept alive a tradition that began when her children were young. “They had small allowances to buy each other presents,” she says. “They bought used toys, books, records, and other things at a thrift store to bring home to repair or remake them.” Trujillo’s tradition has grown to include the extended family and each year their gifts include at least one previously used item for every family member.

For many of us, the holidays aren’t complete without red and green—chile that is. That’s why Cindy McGill, Vice President of Corporate Strategy and Development for Public Service Company of New Mexico, hosts a big Mexican feast for family and friends on Christmas Eve. “After dinner, we have a gift exchange and a white elephant exchange, then we sing Christmas carols,” she says.

“On Christmas morning—now that our kids are in their twenties—my husband Curt and I get up and go for a run.” After their run, the couple builds a fire and cooks breakfast, and once the kids are out of bed, the whole family takes time to reminisce and enjoy the gifts in their stockings. She says that’s quite a change from the days when their children were up at dawn.

Terri Cole, President and CEO of the Greater Albuquerque Chamber of Commerce says her Christmas breakfast has been exactly the same for the past 18 years.

“In 1988, my husband Jim, who was then my boyfriend, brought cherry strudel, fresh fruit compote, and quiche from Le Chantilly. He also brought ingredients for mimosas. Every year we have the same breakfast. We also make my late mother-in-law’s date cake in honor of her memory.”

Since the birth of her first granddaughter 13 years ago, the Coles have welcomed Christmas bears into their lives.

“In 1993 I bought two Christmas bears to celebrate Keilah’s birth. Since then, I’ve purchased two to four bears each year and we now have more than 50 bears that we plan to have our grandchildren divide when Keilah turns 18.” The bears are always on display to mark the holidays.

For many of us, the holidays begin with Thanksgiving.

“Thanksgiving weekend, I hang lights on my house and decorate the tree while a fire roars in the fire place,” says Luisa Casso, President and CEO of the Downtown Action Team. Casso’s favorite holiday tradition is cooking Christmas brunch for her family. “I invite everyone over for green chili eggs benedict and mimosas. I set a special table with china, candles, and a handmade centerpiece. For me, the holidays are about appreciating family and friends, and this is one way I tell my family I love them.”

Although holidays are about family, sometimes they’re a symbol of independence. The first time we put up our own tree, bake our own cookies, or roast a turkey can mark the beginning of adulthood. When I first left my parents’ home, I was determined to do things my way. I decided that I wouldn’t use tinsel or wait to put up my Christmas tree. Thanksgiving weekend, I bought a live tree, lights, and ornaments, and set it up in front of my living room window. I was so proud that I held a party a week later to celebrate.

Unfortunately it wasn’t long before I realized that putting up a tree so far in advance wouldn’t become an annual tradition. By mid-December, there were more needles in my carpet than on the tree, and it was no longer safe to plug in the lights. After that, I adopted my mother’s schedule, if not her tinsel.

Whatever our holiday traditions may be, they serve to remind us not only of our ties to family but of our own creativity and the joy we derive from this special time. So go ahead and mix up a batch of gingerbread, fill some paper bags with sand, top that tree with a shining star, and then make a holiday tradition of your own.

Valerie Santillanes is working toward her MFA in fiction and teaching at the University of New Mexico . She also works as a freelance editor and technical writer.