Happy Holidays from the AWS!

We asked our Women Surgeons to share with us their Holiday traditions and some of their favorite memories of the holidays.

Please enjoy these delightful stories from members of the Association of Women Surgeons -- and feel free to share your own in the Comments.

Happy Holidays from all of us on the Blog team and the AWS!
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Amalia Cochran, MD, FACS, FCCM
Blog: amaliacochranmd.com
Twitter: @amaliacochranmd

One of my favorite traditions during residency grew up from a tradition back home in Texas. I’ve long believed that tamales are Christmas food, and when I moved to Utah for residency, I started the tradition of a tamale dinner at my house on Christmas night for my co-residents, friends…anyone who wanted to drop by.

At first, quite a few of them thought it was an intriguing and strange tradition, but it was always a fun evening. By Christmas of our PGY-6 year, one of my classmates looked at me as she was eating her tamales and confessed, “I’m going to miss this next year when I’m in Minnesota.” While I got to have my Christmas tamales with my Mom the next year- and was back in Texas for my fellowship - it definitely wasn’t the same.
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Brittany Bankhead-Kendall, MD, MSc
Resident

This Christmas my family and I will be navigating the waters that the "Match" has bestowed upon us- living on separate sides of the country. My surgery residency is in Michigan, and my husband's emergency medicine residency is in Texas. He and my son decorated our tree while we "FaceTimed." No parent likes to be away from their children, especially during holidays. But I think Christmas is about traditions, making traditions, and yet sometimes breaking them to remember what's really important.