December 2025 Holiday Staff Blog

Every December here at AGD, we like to use our blog space to hear a little bit more from the team that makes this all happen! Read on to learn more about the AGD team's favorite holiday traditions, memories, and what they're looking forward to in the new year.

Happy Holidays from the team at AGD!

What’s your favorite holiday tradition, and how did it start?

• Josebet: I love playing silly games that make me laugh, hearing terrible karaoke singers, and trying the recipes that are saved only for the holidays.

• Ejay: My family participates in Secret Santa, and it started because we all live so far away from one another. This allows us to send one another gifts and we schedule a Christmas Facetime to open gifts and wish one another a Merry Christmas.

• Avery: My family cooks something different for dinner on Christmas Eve every year. This started because my brother and I grew up picky eaters and had no interest in Christmas ham…in the past we’ve done fondue, homemade dumplings, pizza, and this year we’re going to make homemade pasta!

• Aaron: Learning to cook a new Persian dish every year. This started 2 years ago when we hosted our first christmas dinner.

What’s one holiday memory that always makes you smile?

• Taylor: For Thanksgiving a few years ago, we made turkey sandwiches and ate them at Grover Beach with a bonfire for sunset.

• Ejay: Last year, my little cousin got a hamster for Christmas. I have never seen a child so excited!

• Aaron: Playing Cranium one Christmas with the family and watching my uncle act out Marlyn Monroe by doing his rendition of her “Happy Birthday to JFK” performance…he won the point, by the way.

Do you have a favorite holiday recipe or food that you look forward to every year?

• Taylor: MASHED POTATOES.

• Aaron: Cinnamon Rolls.

• Ejay: I love anything with gravy on it! For dessert, my aunt makes something called "Russian Cream" and it's a family favorite.

• Troy: You cannot go wrong with a bowl of bún bò Huế on a cold winter day. I guess most people already know phở as a classic Vietnamese dish but for me, bún bò huế is on another level and it unfortunately has not gained as much popularity in the States. It is a traditional dish originating from Central Vietnam. It is made with a rich lemongrass-infused broth, simmered from beef shank, pork hock, and aromatics like onion, ginger, and shrimp paste. The broth is finished with a spicy sate chili oil that gives the dish its signature red color and heat. Served over thick round rice noodles and topped with sliced beef, pork hock, herbs, lime, and banana blossom, it’s a deeply flavorful and comforting soup that balances savory, spicy, and fragrant notes. In English, it is called Vietnamese spicy beef noodle soup (or Bun Bo Hue). For non-Vietnamese friends and colleagues, I highly recommend you try it out once you are in the Bay or down in LA. As Anthony Bourdain once said, if you bring a date for bun bo hue and they don't like it, then you know there is no hope of a relationship.

  
  

  

  Bún bò Huế- traditional Vietnamese soup

How does your family or culture celebrate the holidays in a unique way?

• Josebet: In addition to celebrating holidays with family, I look forward to making a tradition of celebrating holidays with friends, to have the perfect excuse to dress up, eat, drink, and laugh with them for the memories to come.

• Aaron: We play board games after Christmas dinner.

• Ejay: My mother is from Germany, so when I was growing up, on December 6th, we would leave our shoes out for Saint Nikolas to leave gifts in them!

  
  

  

  Shoes left out for Saint Nikolas

• Troy: We do not typically celebrate Christmas as Vietnamese but growing up we were always aware of Christmas and enjoyed the atmospheric aspect it brings to the neighborhoods. The city where I grew up was always filled with Christmas lights and people dressing up during the holiday, even though Christmas was never recognized as an official holiday in Vietnam. However, we celebrate Lunar New Year (or Tết) and it is considered just as big of a holiday as Christmas.

What are you most grateful for this holiday season?

• Taylor: All of the support from my family, friends, and AGD this year.

• Ejay: I am lucky enough to say that I have a long list of gratitude this year. I am grateful for my health, family, friends, loved ones, AGD, the beautiful places I have lived, my dog, and the ability to explore and have new adventures that I am embarking on this coming year that challenge me in so many new ways.

• Gaby: I'm grateful to spend this holiday season with my family. I love nothing more than being with people I can be myself with—people I can be a bit traditionally crazy with—just telling stories to each other and having a good time. I love baking cookies with my younger sisters, decorating them, and distributing them to people on the streets who unfortunately might not have a Christmas like most of us. I believe that brings the Christmas spirit to life in our family.

  
  

  

• Aaron: Neal’s flourishing and endless Christmas spirit.

What’s your favorite AGD blog piece, and why?

• Ejay: All of them. I enjoy hearing the different perspectives on different subjects that folks are interested in. If I had to choose...Ok, I'll give two: LEED exams and Day of the Dead were probably tied for my favorites this year, though.

• Aaron: My favorite blog is the 5 years of reflection piece. It pulls back the curtain to who the company is. It speaks well to where it all started and what it has become.

• Avery: I have to say the second Vernacular Architecture piece because it was the first blog piece I worked on at AGD!

What’s the best (or funniest) gift you’ve ever received?

• Aaron: Not sure if it's the best or funniest, but definitely the most memorable. A walrus tooth magnifying glass…don’t ask me why.

• Avery: I just received an early Christmas gift of a garlic crusher…it might sound silly but I love to cook and I am so excited to use it soon.

• Ejay: Ok, the best gift this past year was my Kindle. That also may be my best ever. (Send book recs, please!!). Funniest gift? Sumo wrestling tickets.

Are you a “decorate early” or “wait until December” kind of person?

• Taylor: Wait until December!

• Gaby: I'm a "make the decorations part of Christmas" type of girl. When I specialized in sustainability, I couldn't help but notice how we often buy beautiful decorations only to leave them in boxes for 95% of the year. So I combined sustainability with art—two of my biggest passions—and became someone who loves to create her own decor. I love drying orange slices and making them into garlands. Same with popcorn and cranberries—I'll make a batch, put on a Christmas movie, and string together beautiful garlands. I believe that by doing this, I'm creating a beautiful tradition and a new way of thinking about Christmas decorations.

  
  

  

• Aaron: Decorate in December.

• Josebet: Definitely early, as soon as the celebration passes, the house changes to the next one.

• Ejay: I wait until December 1st, and in years past, I would do the bare minimum of decorating. I am trying to embrace the holiday spirit more.

What’s one thing you’re looking forward to in the new year?

• Taylor: Taking our honeymoon trip with my husband.

• Aaron: More adventures and memories with friends, family and loved ones.

• Avery: My parents are coming to SLO to spend some time here this winter, and they’re bringing my dog. I’m very excited to watch her experience the beach for the first time!

How do you like to give back or spread kindness during the holidays?

• Ejay: I like to participate in "Giving Trees". Each year, Salvation Army and other local non-profits like to ask families and children to write down their gift wish, and you can anonymously gift them. I think it is a wonderful way to spread kindness and joy during the holidays.

Happy Holidays from the team at AGD!