Riverdale Faculty Share Holiday Hot Takes and Reflections
Mr. Koo has strong feelings about holiday cookies.
Ally Samuels/The Riverdale Review
Riverdale Review: Do you have any “spicy” takes on the holidays?
Upper School science teacher Mr. Gabriel Koo: “I think gingerbread cookies and snickerdoodles are terrible. All the spices are overdone. For example, I am fine with a pumpkin pie but when spices such as nutmeg cinnamon and cloves are used together it is too overwhelming.”
Senior Kayla Blythe: “I think the pressure to have a HOLI-date can be kind of extreme during the holidays.”
Middle and Upper School history teacher and director of experiential education Dr. Elizabeth Pillsbury: “I find that the best eggnog is with soy milk.
RR: Would you like to share any fun facts regarding the holidays?
Mr. Koo: “An interesting observation about new years is that if we do follow the traditional new year's customs, that means a majority of people's last words of the year is always going to be one and the first words of the new year is always going to be happy. I guess some people might say zero which ruins the concept there.”
RR: Would you like to share any holiday anecdotes?
Kayla Blythe: One year my family thought we were going to surpass the struggles of travelling during the holidays by travelling on Christmas day. Unfortunately our plan did not work out as well as expected. Our connecting flight got delayed by two hours, and then we almost did not make it to our destination. It was a stressful day. I will say the one perk of travelling on Christmas is that everyone at the airport was dressed up.”
Dr. Pilsbury: “My mother before she passed was a part of the church choir. And she used to grab me and my brother to go carolling with her from house to house. My brother and I also used to make up songs “ ….
Mr. Koo: “An unofficial holiday tradition I share with my older brother is that we would go to all-you-can-eat buffets and try to outcompete each other about how many things you can eat. The competition would start with a coin flip. The winner of the coin flip would go to the buffet and fill two plates with identical food piles. Mr.Koo and his brother then would finish those plates. Then, the loser of the coin flip would come back with two more identical plates of food. This would keep going until one of them was too full to continue. The loser of the eating contest would pay the bill.” Mr. Koo has a winning record against his brother of four to three.
RR: Do you have any holiday advice for the Riverdale community?
Dr. Pillsbury: “I recommend listening to the version of “Baby It's Cold Outside” by Lydia Liza and Josiah Leminiski. Unlike the original version of “Baby It's Cold Outside” this song focuses on consent.”
Kayla Blythe: “I would tell people to buy sentimental gifts rather than the “perfect gift.” Also, one can never go wrong with a gag gift.”
