1. We set issues on fireplace. For enjoyable.

Christmas fires in different places are normally unhappy and unlucky occurrences related to defective vacation lights or burning oil overflowing a turkey-frying pot. Here in south Louisiana, we set stacks of wooden on fireplace to mild the best way for Pere Noel.

Haven’t been to a Christmas bonfire? Go see the Algiers bonfire Dec. 3 from 4:30 to eight:00 p.m. on the Mississippi River batture close to the ferry touchdown. Or, go to the Christmas Eve bonfires in the River Parishes.

2. Who wants Frosty? We have Mr. Bingle.

Even New Orleans newbies have in all probability seen Mr. Bingle someplace, possibly as a large show at City Park’s Celebration within the Oaks or as a doll they’ll purchase at Dillard’s — despite the fact that he was the mascot of the now-defunct Maison Blanche division retailer. Mr. Bingle was born in 1948 as a cute little snowman with an ice-cream cone for a hat, holly leaf wings and Christmas ornaments for eyes.

3. And who wants Prancer? We have Gaston.

From “The Cajun Night Before Christmas” by James Rice:

“Ha, Gaston! Ha, Tiboy! Ha, Pierre an’ Alcee’!

Gee, Ninette! Gee, Suzette! Celeste an’Renee’!

4. We have been the primary to serve turducken.

Hey, who needs a drumstick!

The first point out of turducken in The Times-Picayune was in 1994. Chef Paul Prudhomme patented the phrase in 1986. The invention additionally was claimed by Hebert’s Specialty Meats in Maurice.

5. We import pretend sneaux.

Kind of like a visit to the Super Bowl, each every so often, we get snow in New Orleans. But you’ll be able to depend on no less than one or two pseudo snowfalls yearly.

If you wish to frolic in pretend flakes, you may have choices. The Velvet Cactus guarantees non-toxic foam instead of snow if you hire a personal eating bubble tent as part of its Christmas-themed eating expertise, by way of Dec. 30. Loyola University plans Sneaux Dec. 6.

6. We drink eggnog frozen daiquiris.

Nothing says Christmas like eggnog — eggnog you may get from a drive-through daiquiri retailer, that’s. Or, make your own at home.

7. We throw issues at our Christmas parades.

You different cities along with your Christmas parades are very good, however you are fortunate if you happen to catch a mini-Tootsie Roll at one in every of these affairs. Here in New Orleans, we throw beads and toys and different issues at our parades — Mardi Gras or not. This 12 months, take your decide of the Krewe of Krampus parade or the Children’s Hospital parade, each on Dec. 3.

8. We dump our Christmas timber in the marsh.

After Christmas, in fact.

Every 12 months, to battle the regular drumbeat of coastal erosion, we set our timber out on the curb on particular days for pickup, to be delivered to particular Santa’s helpers who dump them in the marshes and swamps. They are on Santa’s good record.

9. We drink bourbon milk punch.

Milk punch has at all times been a New Orleans favourite, but it surely was in 2002 that it was perfected by the Bourbon House and have become a staple. The French Quarter restaurant’s frozen bourbon milk punch is the proper over-the-top Christmas brunch or dessert drink.

10. We eat a Reveillon meal.

The feast is a wealthy style of New Orleans vacation historical past, as a number of the metropolis’s most famous eating places roll out Reveillon menus impressed by the Nineteenth-century Creole Christmas custom.

Creole households would begin celebrating Christmas Day within the early morning hours with lavish feasts to interrupt what was a standard day of fasting on Christmas Eve. These days, Reveillon meals are particularly common on Christmas Eve.

11. We have our personal Christmas tunes.

Benny Grunch & The Bunch launched a trilogy of New Orleans-themed Christmas songs in 2009. They stay staples of the native vacation season. 

The “12 Yats of Christmas,” “Ain’t Dere No More” and “Santa and His Reindeer Used to Live Right Here,” can put any New Orleans household within the vacation spirit.

Melinda Daffin wrote this text in 2017, and Gabriella Killett up to date it in 2022.