From the SHD Family to Yours

The hustle and bustle of the holidays is at its peak! What makes the holidays memorable though are the special people we spend it with and the traditions we create over the years. From the SHD family to yours, we’d like to share some of our favorite holiday traditions with you.

We wish you a safe and joyful holiday season filled with special memories!

My favorite tradition: 
Every Christmas Eve as a child I always looked forward to getting to open one special present early – new Christmas pajamas to wear that night. It always seemed to make the wait for Santa Clause even more exciting. Now that I have two daughters of my own, we carry on that tradition gifting them matching pajamas on Christmas Eve. At 5 and 7 years old they still think it’s pretty cool to look like twins!

For 30 years now, I have hosted brunch at our house on Christmas morning. We used to have about 25 family members joining us but as children have grown up and moved away to start families of their own, we are down to about 10 of us. Even with brunch being a little bit quieter now, we still really enjoy this special time together.
– Tammy Powell, Fare Specialist/Customer Service Representative

When our kids were younger, we would rush home from wherever we were to put out milk and cookies for Santa, and sometimes sprinkle reindeer food on the sidewalk. Then we would all sit together on the floor, and I would read ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas’ before the kids went off to bed so the magical night could begin. My children are now 14 and 17 so those times have passed, but I still have the same copy of this book that I read to them for many, many years.
– Chris Hoover, Operations/Public Safety Officer

One of my favorite memories growing up was when we would go as a family to look at Christmas lights around where we lived in Parkersburg, WV.
– Becky McNemer, SHD Operations

Every year, we go to Tastee Freez and get a Christmas cone, which is soft serve ice cream with red and green sugar sprinkles, and ride around for hours looking at Christmas light displays all around Staunton, Waynesboro, and Augusta County. We always listen to Christmas music and share stories of years past while driving around. It never really feels like Christmas until we have done this tradition. And even though I have the DVD and Blu-Ray, I still watch “24 hours of A Christmas Story on TNT” at least once through.
– Justin Kyle, Operations/Public Safety Officer

My parents were divorced and each December my three sisters and I would watch the mail for a big package to arrive from my dad. If we were lucky, it would show up while my mom was still at work and we could carefully open each one with a butter knife to see what was inside. Then we would wrap it back up like nothing ever happened. I’m pretty sure my mom still has no idea we did this!
– Debbie McAllister, Facilities & Shuttle Coordinator