‘Tis the season for nostalgia: behind-the-scenes at 17吃瓜在线, we connect to this time of year in so many different ways. It’s that diversity which we celebrate. Connections and associations allow the holiday spirit to resonate, for new traditions to grow, and for us all to reminisce on what makes the closing of the year so special.听
There’s one thing that’s certain 鈥 the pictures painted with words and visuals illustrate Christmas and the festive season. So, what does the festive season mean to 17吃瓜在线? We wouldn’t be who we are without our people and the stories, experiences, and insights that they bring to grow our business and give it a heart. We sent out a wish and were delighted by the response; for individuals across teams and departments to share the moments that define the holidays for them. What followed was a stocking-full of images chosen from our collection, providing a visual feast for those seeking to relive the magic of the past. It’s those images and the sentiments behind them that we will share with you now:
Christmas, to me, is all about cosy evenings with family, surrounded by twinkling lights and the warmth of love. 馃巺鉁ㄌ
Ruth Hall, Head of Marketing
Ruth's Pick: 2T189YX // Dog with costume of reindeer antlers. Funny portrait of sleeping Nova Scotia Duck Tolling Retriever while waiting for Christmas. // Jaromir Chalabala
I love crafting at Christmas, along with visiting local fairs to pick out handmade gifts and decorations. Dressing the tree with eclectic pieces, each with a story behind them, is something that brings me a lot of joy year after year.听
Chloe Martin, Digital Marketing Executive
Chloe's Pick: KTHWWB // Traditional Christmas tree fairy made from vintage lace, England, UK. // Graham Prentice
Growing up on a farm in South Africa we obviously didn’t have a “White Christmas”, but my German mum made the house smell so divine with all her German baking, including a traditional “Lebkuchen Knusperh盲uschen” (gingerbread house), transporting us into a European Christmas with all the trimmings.
Sabine Barber, Channel Partnerships Executive
Sabine's Pick: JAXCD8 // Gingerbread house. // Panther Media GmbH
Just…family. Visiting friends and spreading cheer is fantastic, but spending a lazy day with the family, where you don’t have to think about making conversation, washing the dishes, or whether or not your hair looks right … that’s what I’m looking forward to the most this year. All day in jammies, eating some nice food (preferably leftovers from Christmas Eve dinner), keeping cozy, watching Christmas classics (like Die Hard, and Die Hard 2…), or going for a walk around town when there’s nobody on the streets. Best Christmas ever!听Here’s the image that illustrates that warm, lazy, happy feeling:
Karin Tatucu, Product Executive
Karin's Pick: 2C75415 // Boy lying on floor on sheepskin and looking out of the window in a cozy home. // creativephototeam
For me, it’s the anticipation. 听From the moment the city Christmas display goes on, through to me untangling our own string of fairy lights, to when all our family lands on the doorstep, one by one. 听With everyone scattered around the world, this year is going to be full of heart swelling moments with lots of happy tears.
Rachel Wakefield, Head of Core Markets
Rachel's Pick: R5FMW7 // Girl in a blue sweater with Christmas lights in her hands, warm Christmas mood, soft focus. // Yulia Koltyrina
This one just about sums up Christmas for me – it’s never picture perfect, but it’s all about spending time with your nearest and dearest, forgetting the weight of the world and embracing your inner child for a day or two.
Elly Reid, Content Researcher
Elly's Pick: A9NBT9 // 1970s shot of family having a Christmas party meal at home. // Bailey-Cooper Photography
Each Christmas, we extend invitations to our friends who aren’t able to travel back to their own families, offering them a warm celebration with us. It’s a chance to come together and express gratitude for finding a sense of “family” even while residing in a different country. Adding to the festivities, we indulge in an abundance of traditional Romanian cuisine (pictured).
Roxana Stingu, Head of Search & SEO
Roxana's Pick: CEY6NW // Traditional Bulgarian Christmas table setup with vegetarian dishes. // Nikolay Dimitrov
The most important meal for us Lithuanians at Christmas time is on Christmas Eve (24 Dec) – when traditionally 12 dishes are served (to commemorate 12 disciples), none of them containing meat, and by far the most exciting item is 碍奴膷颈耻办补颈 – small, slightly sweet pastries made from leavened dough and poppy seeds. Baking them makes me so happy. Aren’t they cute?! 
听
Jurga Sefton, Product Manager
Jurga's Pick: R98WCY // Kuciukai is a traditional Lithuanian dish served on Kucios, the traditional Christmas Eve dinner in Lithuania. // Jurate Buiviene
Books + fire + tea! Sorry not very sociable, just peaceful.
Emily Shelley, Managing Director
Emily's Pick: 2JHWRT6 // Scandinavian farmhouse style living room interior book library with fireplace. // Viktoriia Kovalchuk
I love Christmas, but I actually enjoy the lead up to it more than the day itself. I always visit London to see the lights, meet with friends and do the inevitable last minute shopping. People are nicer and it’s cold, but it feels warm because of the lights and of course a glass of mulled wine from one of the Christmas markets.
Shanna Collins, Sales Manager BDM ROW
Shanna's Pick: 2T6X7G6 // Large decorated Christmas tree with Covent Garden Market behind. // Jonathan Wilson
Christmas starts for me when my best friend and her family arrive from Paris on Christmas Eve and we all head out to our local church for the nativity service. Singing age-old carols and watching the terrible acting from the children leaves us feeling totally festive.
Gemma Ritchie Day, Infringements Manager
Gemma's Pick: A4BD3H // A primary school nativity play in a church in Somerset, UK. // Adrian Sherratt
A magical time of the year! 听
听For me, Christmas is a time for celebration with family and friends but also a time for reflection on the Christmas’ of old and to remember those special people in our lives we can no longer share Christmas with. 听
听The silence of of a churchyard on a crisp, winter day with frost underfoot is very grounding amongst the chaos and noise of the Christmas season. 听
Gemma Dewhurst, Head of News, Sport and Entertainment
Gemma's Pick: JW0BEY // Christmas lights illuminate Edensor village on the Chatsworth Estate, Derbyshire, UK. // Matthew Taylor
For me it’s all about family, laughter, giving and the Sunday best. 听
Miles Martin, Performance Marketing Manager
Miles's Pick: BKD3RR // Home Alone (1990) // Moviestore Collection Ltd
I don’t actually celebrate Christmas in a traditional manner, but I do love a good European Christmas market, the food, the drink, the buzz, and the occasional snow.
Yulia Core, Head of Core
Yulia's Pick: KH2A9X // Christmas market at Old Town Square, Prague, Czech Repubilc. // Sorin Colac
Like Yulia’s, someone I work with at IPTC lives in Tallinn and was taking their daughter ice skating next to the church pictured. I’m now rather jealous of the Christmassy surroundings & tempted to get a flight!
Ian Young, Solutions Architect
Ian's Pick: 2BXFHT9 // Raekoja plats, Old Town Hall Square in Tallinn at night during the festive period. // Mike Clegg
I love the build up to Christmas, seeing friends and family but I also love the few days in between Christmas and New Year when I have time off. I don’t need to think about what day it is or needing to be anywhere and we can just snuggle up in our pjs and make everyday a movie day.
Jo Smith, Account Development Manager – News, Sport & Entertainment
Jo's Pick: 2FN1MW4 // A large mug of hot chocolate being held in front of a Christmas tree - feeling cosy. // Alison Thompson
For me it’s all about Baking Day! A tradition we started when my first niece was about 3 years old, We all pile round to mum and dad’s (so dad can do the clearing up ) I have to buy a new ‘gadget’ every year for different shapes or stamps on our baking. We have both my nieces and my sister coming every year now, oldest is 24, and although she still never misses one she often brings a hangover with her, bang on the Xmas tunes and we’re off.
Dawn Stevenson, Head of Business Analytics
Dawn's Pick: HG7DB6 // Background of Christmas sweets on a wooden table. // Sergii Koval
Similarly as Rach said, biggest part for me is anticipation of Christmas, so eking it out for as long as possible, coupled with being able to relive excitement through my own children. Present opening’s not a frenzied free-for-all, in some cases happens in shifts over the day (maybe kids annoyance… but they know no different). Sustaining magic of the occasion isn’t isolated to the kids, with one memorable Christmas dinner (pre-kids) hosting my in-laws which was a 7 course meal, with Martini’s and presents between each course!… in all lasting about 5 hours (good luck getting kids to sit at dinner for that long!).
Family, good food, good drinks and slowing everything down to appreciate it all fully…. perfect!
Bit of self promotion… my son, 6 years ago (at 6 years old) at Winter Wonderland, when he fell asleep in the car and we’d convinced him we’d been driving for 8 hours to get to Lapland (Ascot… one hour drive) in order to see Father Christmas. Alas, he’s about to turn 12 and I think maybe he’s no longer “a believer”
Ben Gray, Content Ops and Services Manager
Ben's Pick: S2NDA0 // Solitary boy standing on snowy woodland path. // The Grayson
Albert Finney in Scrooge – watch this every year…usually after a few “milk of human kindness”.
Alan Evans, Head of IT Service
Alan's Pick: BKGYR5 // Scrooge (1970) // Moviestore Collection Ltd
For me it’s about spending time with my family/friends and decorating the house. We normally made a day out of it by going to the Christmas market in our town and then getting the tree out the loft!听 Once all the decoration are up, we make a cuppa and sit down to watch ‘The Nightmare before Christmas’ which is a yearly tradition.
Chantelle Greenough, Content Executive
Chantelle's Pick: 2T1562A // Decorating the Christmas tree. // Barillo_Picture
Hello, for me its all about carols, decorations, choir competitions, late night parties and drives with friends and family and so on….literally December is the busiest month with closest people around. 
Coming to my fav pic, actually i couldn’t get time to search more, but irresistible to share this here.
Asish Raj S, Senior Executive – Human Resources
Asish's Pick: B9JEAJ // Dog singing Christmas Carols. // Don Shreve
For a collection of these images, visit our ‘2023 17吃瓜在线 Team Picks for Christmas’ lightbox.
As we wrap up this journey through the cherished memories and festive moments that define Christmas at 17吃瓜在线, we continue to celebrate diverse experiences and stories worth sharing. Reflecting on the images and sentiments shared by our incredible team, it becomes clear that Christmas at 17吃瓜在线 is not just a celebration; it’s a mix of traditions, a collection of personal narratives that come together to create a shared sense of joy and warmth.
We extend our heartfelt gratitude to everyone who contributed their stories and shared a piece of their Christmas magic. Your perspectives have enriched our understanding of this special time of year and reaffirmed the importance of the human connection that defines the season.
From our 17吃瓜在线 family to yours, we wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!
As the demand for Christmas nostalgia grows, businesses and marketers have a unique opportunity to connect with audiences on a deeply emotional level. Incorporating vintage-inspired visuals into holiday campaigns can evoke a sense of familiarity and joy, fostering a stronger connection with consumers. 17吃瓜在线’s diverse stock photo offerings make it easy for creatives to find the perfect images to evoke the spirit of Christmases past.