How Marlo Thomas, Jesse Tyler Ferguson, and friends celebrate

On a brisk winter evening, just a few weeks ago, I made my way to the Upper East Side for a holiday dinner party. I’d been invited to the penthouse of Marlo Thomas, the sixties pop star queen, for an intimate dinner to celebrate her homeware collection with Williams Sonoma.

I gathered around the table with a slew of fellow creatives—none of whom I knew personally—like television personality Paige Davis and designer Christian Siriano. I was lucky enough to be seated next to Marlo, who kindly sent back the sub-par wine offered by the catering staff and chose to crack open an impressive bottle of Italian red from her own cellar instead. We drank it alongside a multi-course meal that included butternut squash agnolotti and beef Wellington with an American spin: plump morsels of lobster were stuffed between layers of tenderloin and puff pastry.

Throughout the night, Marlo shared stories about her childhood and how she met her husband of many years, Phil Donahue. As dinner was concluding, Marlo made a gracious toast and asked everyone to go around table and share a favorite holiday memory.

Paige, who was raised Jewish, told a story about putting on an elaborate Christmas for her non-Jewish partner’s parents when she was touring in a production of Beauty and the Beast. And Christian, of course, had a story that was merely weeks old, in which he designed a dress for Mariah Carey, the queen of Christmas. For my part, I shared an ongoing tradition that my mom began when we my brothers and I were babies: each year, my parents gifted us Christmas ornaments so that we would each have our own collections by the time we were on our own for the holiday. Telling such personal stories brought a group of strangers close together, turning an otherwise commercial, run-of-the-mill press dinner into a memorable and poignant evening.

Marlo’s heartwarming ritual inspired me to ask some of my own friends about their most beloved holiday memories so I could share them with you in this newsletter. Hopefully, these stories (which you can find below!) help you to take a moment to appreciate your own traditions or even ignite the spark to create a new one. Happy Holidays, everyone!

Favorite links this week

IT’S A NEPO BABY WORLD

It’s no secret that you need connections to make it in Hollywood, but Vulture’s recent exploration of “nepo babies” (a cheeky term for celebrities with famous parents or grandparents) illuminates just how familial the industry really is.

MY NEXT STAY

If you, like me, are already planning your 2023 travel, you should check out CN Traveler’s list of the winter’s most exciting hotel openings, from the revival of an Art Deco property in Santa Monica to a mountain escape in Colorado to a desert oasis in Sedona.

LAST-MINUTE GIFTING

Don’t worry if you’ve left your holiday shopping to *checks calendar* two days before Christmas because, according to The Atlantic, regifting is en vogue. Though this has become a trend to save money, it’s also super useful if you’ve been procrastinating. And it’s sustainable!

MY FRIENDS’ MOST BELOVED HOLIDAY TRADITIONS

In the hopes that I could spread just a little bit of holiday cheer, I asked my friends about their favorite holiday memories.

Marlo Thomas

“One of my family’s traditions that I love is that we make something—either for each one of us or for the whole group. One year my nephew, Jason, wrote a song on his guitar with a verse for each of us. Another time, my niece, Kate, interviewed all of us and made a documentary about the family. They are always fun and the highlight of our family’s holiday!”

Marlo Thomas, best known for her 60’s hit show, That Girl, recently launched home goods line with Williams Sonoma

Jesse Tyler Ferguson

“My older son is at the age where he is starting to understand what the holiday season is, so my husband Justin and I are brainstorming on what traditions we are going to start for our growing family. We are giving this a whirl this year: we are getting Beckett his own tiny tree that he can decorate for himself.”

Jesse Tyler Ferguson, known for his role in the TV series Modern Family, is currently on Broadway in the show Take Me Out

Valeria Vantaggi

“Between Christmas and New Year's Eve, my friends and I have a tradition of meeting at our house in Tuscany, in a small village outside Pisa. About 20 of us stay there together for a few days (the children sleep in the cupboard drawers!). We cook, we play guitar, we sing. Friends come from all over the world and unfortunately in recent years, with the difficulty of travel, it hasn't been easy. But this year, we expect a beautiful and very warm crowd.”

Valeria Vantaggi is the news and culture editor-in-chief at Vanity Fair Italia

Laura Neilson

“Growing up—and even today—we always celebrate Christmas Eve with a festive party or special dinner that often involves my father spending the two days beforehand in the kitchen. There’s always the usual big-family tension, heightened by a looming deadline (and sometimes a slammed door or two), but at the end of it all, we have a glorious feast. Even better: the scores of delicious leftovers to enjoy throughout the next Christmas Day, mostly spent lazing about by the fire.”

Laura Neilson writes for outlets including Vogue, Wall Street Journal, and Air Mail

Andy Baraghani

“One thing I always return to is a Feast of the Seven Fishes dinner. It’s become something I look forward to very year (but also something friends of mine have come to expect from me). I always want to change it up, so I tweak the menu each year, but shrimp cocktail seems to be non-negotiable.”

Andy Baraghani is a food writer and personality and author of the cookbook The Cook You Want to Be

Julia Bainbridge

“Christmas Day 2020, my boyfriend and I took a long walk from Brooklyn, over the Manhattan Bridge, and into Manhattan's Chinatown. The city was so quiet, it felt like it was ours, and we worked our way up to the West Village, which looked movie-set perfect with fewer people filling its sidewalks. A friend works at Nom Wah, which is open over the holiday, so we ate loads of dumplings to fuel us for the walk back home. Christmas Day 2021, we repeated the same pattern, except this time, as we reached the apex of the bridge, he proposed to me. We walked the rest of the way home as fiancés. This year, we plan on doing the same thing—and who knows what might happen!”

Julia Bainbridge is a writer, podcaster, and author of the non-alcoholic beverages cookbook Good Drinks

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