ROANOKE, Va. – With Christmas around the corner, people across Roanoke are celebrating in their own unique ways. For some, it’s all about keeping traditions alive.
Jessica Rhodes and Sara Hylton, visiting from out of town, shared their family tradition. “We are eating at the weenie stand. It’s an old tradition from my grandparents so we’ve always come here and met the whole family and enjoyed hotdogs. They passed on but we keep the tradition alive for them so every time we come here it’s just a nice memory of them.”
The Stewart family, local to Roanoke, also holds onto a cherished tradition. “We’re also going to do a little running around the neighborhood looking at the Christmas lights. We run very slowly and make sure we comment on all the lights in the neighborhood. I’ve been doing that since I was this big and I brought that into our household as an annual tradition,” they said.
For others, the holiday season is a time to give back.
The Knox family from Roanoke explained, “Right now we made a bunch of sandwiches like lunch bags for meals and we’re handing them out to homeless people so they can have something to eat.”
Some residents prefer a more relaxed approach, focusing on quality time with family.
Heather Earley, a Roanoke resident, said, “This Christmas my plans are very lowkey. Usually my family gets together, we did that early this year, so this year I’m going to be hanging out with my dad and watching football all day.”
Out-of-town visitors Lilly and Kate Bivens shared their holiday routine. “We did a white elephant last night, that’s a tradition. We’re visiting, we’re just in town for the holidays, our extended family both lives here so we just come to Roanoke every Christmas.”
No matter how people spend their Christmas in Roanoke, the common thread is being with the ones they love.