“Do I have to?” or “Oo! When can we do it?” are two of the most common types of quotes that kids say during the Christmas season. While having grumpy feelings towards holiday traditions usually just means one is being a ‘Grinch’, some annual celebrations are entirely tacky and out of style. 

“I enjoy Christmas traditions, aside from fruit cake and gingerbread houses,” Kian Gibbons, senior, said. 

Figgy pudding is a mythical Christmas-time dessert that almost everyone has heard about, but few have actually seen it. People have heard it for decades through Carolers’ songs or recognize it from that one “Phineas and Ferb” Christmas special from 2009. Even without trying it, many know that there is a strong dislike for the treat. Turned-up noses could be due to the fact that the treat is boiled, it has fruit and nuts in it, or simply how it looks. Whatever the reason is, it must explain why it is not widely consumed during the holiday season and why Spam has meat flavored after the pudding. 

“I do not think I have ever seen figgy pudding (…) I think it is weirdly made,” Everett Johnson, junior, said. 

Gingerbread houses are very close to home for many. They are idealized as a fun and festive way to bond and decorate with friends or family. It is such a cherished holiday staple that North Carolina’s Omni Park Inn holds a National Gingerbread House Competition and Disney World builds a life-size version in its Grand Floridian hotel. While these houses may look cheerfully amazing, logistically, they are just not that great. The frosting overload is no joke; it gets all over fingers and tabletops, and the house never wants to stay together. Once the mess is cleaned, the house is left to dry up, making the deconstruction much harder. While some enjoy the craziness of putting together a gingerbread house, others cannot grasp the process being worth the time it takes. 

“The annoying part of building a gingerbread house is how there is never enough frosting to build it,” Keira Martin, sophomore, said. 

A vast part of Christmas traditions are just as tacky, but the joy found in them outweighs any judgments. These customs are what make the season so festive, and without the tacky ones, the holidays would not be the same.