Happy Holiday Traditions from Socket Mobile Families

Happy Holidays from everyone at Socket Mobile! Tis’ the season for relaxing, eating delicious food, participating in fun seasonal activities, and spending quality time with family and friends! As the holiday season is in full swing, our employees would like to share some personal traditions that make this time of year special and memorable for all.

Who knows, you may even find a new tradition for you and your family to get into the Holiday spirit!

12 Days of Christmas

“I come from a large family, and every year on Christmas Eve, we sing the Twelve Days of Christmas. We break off into groups and pick the 12 days from a hat and sing the song. The favorite day to pick…5 golden rings because it’s sung with the same pause as the classic song. The not-so-favorite day…a partridge in a pear tree because you must sing it 12 times. It’s hilarious because we are not a musically gifted group, but everyone embraces the moment. There’s laughter, confusion, and a great deal of fun. We have been doing this for decades, and it never disappoints; each year’s performance is better than the last.”

-- Megan Fannon, Human Resources

Gettin' Crabby

“We usually have my brother come over. He lives in El Granada (next to Half Moon Bay), and he brings a basket of fresh crab off the back of the fishing boats! However, this year, like others, he is not able to do that as they haven’t opened the crab season this year due to whales. (So, they are coming w/o the crab! ☹)”

-- Lenn Ott, Chief Technical Officer and Executive Vice President of Engineering

French Traditions

“We extend the holiday season by including the Epiphany ‘Three Kings Day’ with a ‘Galette de Rois’, or ‘King’s Cake’ (round puff pastry cake filled with frangipane, a sweet almond cream). The cake is decorated with two crowns, and a ceramic trinket is baked inside; one crown is to be worn by the person who first finds the trinket inside the cake, and this person then picks a King or Queen to wear the other crown. This is a French tradition that dates all the way back to the 12th Century!”

-- Vince Coli, Director, NFC Products

Movies with the Scrooged

“Every year, my wife enjoys ‘baking day’ with her family. Her sister and cousins get together to bake dozens upon dozens of cookies that are then split up and brought home. We eat what we can and put the remainder in the freezer to enjoy throughout the next year. The following December, we remember there are dozens of uneaten cookies in the freezer. We (again) eat what we can and toss the rest in order to make room for the new baking-day batch.

While my wife is at baking day, I’ve inadvertently stumbled upon a tradition of my own. I watch all the John Wick movies. (It happened two years in a row by accident, but now it’s a tradition that must be fulfilled!)

We don’t really have any Christmas day traditions, but I do have some go-to Christmas movies I watch throughout December:

• Scrooged
• Die Hard (Yes, it IS a Christmas movie!)
• Gremlins
• Fatman (an underrated but soon-to-be-considered classic)
• and a new addition: Spirited

Anyone else detecting a disturbing trend here?”

-- Stoney deGeyter, Director of Digital Marketing

Family Competition

“The holidays at our house are usually filled with food, family and football…and games. Cards and Monopoly usually. My wife stopped playing monopoly with me probably 25 years ago, but my kids still take their annual beat down from dad!! 😊 They may contest that statement. Slightly competitive household here at the Holmes’s!”

-- Dave Holmes, Chief Business Officer

Christmas in Mexico

“We always celebrate Christmas on Christmas Eve, December 24th. We gather as a family and feast on Tamales, Flan, and Pozole. That is how we celebrate here in the United States, followed by opening presents on Christmas day and eating the leftovers from the night before. We do not have a special dinner on Christmas because we celebrate the coming of Christ the night before awaiting his arrival.

In Mexico, we do not open presents as that is not the tradition there. We have a huge celebration in the town square on the 24th. Everyone from the town and nearby ranches are invited to come join the celebration. There are carnival rides and lots of carnival games and Mexican Carnival food. Mostly Tacos. Families gather there after a procession from my grandparents’ part of town. Mexican parade floats are made based on religious Catholic paintings. Throughout the streets, the floats go through, and you will see some houses participate by re-enacting the religious pictures. The procession ends at the church, where it is followed by a mass.

After the mass is done, we change from our costumes into our regular clothes and celebrate. It is very colorful and fun as all our families gather together in one spot in time square next to the church. There is a live band playing and lots of fireworks culminating with a great firework show. It is called a Castillo and is a structure that is made of fireworks. It is lit up and a great fireworks show is seen. It is a little dangerous, I say, but no one seems to mind it as it is tradition, and no one I know of has been badly hurt by the fireworks. Once midnight strikes, we all gather back into church for the Christmas mass.

On Christmas morning, there is a mass where all the kids who went to CCD class do their first communions. There is no gift opening unless your godparent gives you a gift for your communion. Tradition for gifts is celebrated on January 6th for the day of the “Santos Reyes,” the three wise men. It is them that the children believe bring them their gifts, not Santa like is believed here in the United States. I am happy that being born here, I get to celebrate and embrace both cultures. I also look forward to one day having my kids experience the Mexican celebrations during December in Mexico.”

-- Ana Valdez, Accounts Receivable

Holiday Hikes

“My family’s new tradition in recent years is to hike from the Ridgecrest Blvd of Mount Tam to Stinson Beach, having a lunch, then climb back. The total is probably around 7-8 miles. But the view is fantastic. 😊”

-- Long Pan, SDK Project Manager

Here Comes Santa Paws

“Since all the kids are grown and have families of their own, we no longer decorate our home. We get our jollies off decorating our pets. We have several dog and cat outfits and headpieces and have all kinds of fun putting them on and seeing their reactions. “

-- Vanessa Lindsay, Product Manager

The Lucky Dumpling

“As a Taiwanese Japanese, I celebrate twice for the new year. In Japan, we celebrate the new year on the 1st of January, the same as the USA. In the new year, we eat soba noodles, which stands for “Live long”.

In Taiwan, we celebrate the Chinese new year, which is between the end of January to the beginning of February (Depending on the year). We eat rice cake for the new year. Actually, that is the same in Japan. The flavor is very different, though.

The interesting culture that I can introduce is Mainland Chinese culture. In mainland China, people eat boiled dumplings on the new year. Traditionally people put a coin inside the dumpling when they make it. If anyone in the family eats that coin wrapped in the dumpling, that person is lucky. Chinese believes that the Lucky person will be rich. We don’t talk about hygiene issues here, lol.”

-- Kazuya Akimoto, Sales Support for Socket Mobile APAC

Season of Gratitude

This time of year, our thoughts turn gratefully to our customers and partners who make our success possible.

Without you, we would not be able to deliver reliable data capture solutions to thousands and boost productivity for businesses in almost every industry. You give us purpose, and we thank you for all that you do!

Wishing you all the best this holiday season and beyond,

-- The Socket Mobile Team