DWB Holiday Survey

DURHAM, N.C. – With the holiday season in full swing, GoDuke.com recently asked members of the women's basketball team to share their favorite holiday traditions and memories.

GoDuke.com: What are you most excited for this holiday season?
Faith Suggs: Just getting home, being with the family, getting homemade food and sitting around in our own beds – I think that's the best part of the holidays.
Crystal Primm: I can't wait to go back home and see my family that I haven't seen in forever, sleep in my own bed that I haven't slept in since August and feel the great weather of South Florida.
Haley Gorecki: Just seeing my family. They come to a lot of games, but I really miss them. And cousins and everyone. It's a very happy time of the year.

GoDuke.com: What are some of your family's holiday traditions?
Coach P: We don't have a lot because Christmas has been very difficult in a basketball family. I think there's simple things, like a wonderful home-cooked meal together. We play games – ping pong and one that's really fun is tennis, doubles. Me and my son Jack take on Maddie and my husband John. That can get really good.
Oderah Chidom: We open presents from youngest to oldest. So I'm last.
Lyneé Belton: We normally open one present on Christmas Eve. My parents get to choose which one it is, though. On Christmas Day, me, my sister and my parents, we open our Christmas gifts together and then my grandparents come over before dinner and we exchange gifts. And then we just have a big dinner with everyone.

GoDuke.com: What sort of food does your family enjoy over the holidays?
Coach P: Traditional – I love turkey and dressing and cranberry sauce. I love sweet potatoes. A good ham goes a long way. I love yeast rolls with ham and cheese. All those things!
Chidom: My mom makes a good pot of gumbo with crab in it.
Kyra Lambert: Macaroni and cheese, potato salad – my dad makes great potato salad. I love it, I miss it. Of course a pie, ham usually and my mom really likes duck for Christmas.
Belton: Definitely my grandmother's yams, my aunt's mac and cheese and my grandmother's cheesecake.
Primm: My mom's side of the family is Jamaican, so we always have half Jamaican food and half normal American food, turkey, ham and all that stuff. It's like a huge feast.

GoDuke.com: What is a memorable gift you either received or gave to someone else?
Chidom: Rock Band because I have siblings so we played for the entire break one holiday and it was really fun.
Lambert: I got a pair of Beats for Christmas one year and I use those all the time when I travel.
Suggs: When I was little, I got two Barbie houses and two Barbies, and I think that year we left the tree up and I just played with the Barbie dolls.
Primm: My favorite gift was these Jordans that just came out. My mom got them for me and I almost cried.
Gorecki: For my mom, her favorite animal is a penguin so for three years in a row, as a joke, I would get her a penguin decoration. It was in a china cabinet or an ornament.

GoDuke.com: Does your family decorate to get in the holiday spirit?
Chidom: We buy a tree, decorate the front door, hang stockings up around the fireplace.
Lambert: We decorate the stairs and then sometimes we do lights outside. And then, of course, a tree and wreath.
Belton: We normally decorate the outside and the inside because, since I'm at college, we have Christmas dinner so everyone can come over. We decorate the tree and everywhere inside the house.
Gorecki: My mom likes to get all the decorations out – Christmas tree, these good-smelling candles – everywhere around the house.

GoDuke.com: What is your favorite holiday movie?
Coach P: It's a Wonderful Life
Lambert: A Christmas Carol
Belton: Elf. I forgot how good it was and we watched it the other day as a team and I loved it.
Suggs: How the Grinch Stole Christmas
Primm: Elf, Home Alone 2.

GoDuke.com: Do you listen to holiday music?
Lambert: My Pandora station is always set to holiday music during Christmas time.
Belton: Mariah Carey's Christmas album is my favorite.
Gorecki: I like the Michael Bublé cd, that's a big one. And then any Christmas music in general.

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Players Mentioned

Lyneé Belton

Oderah Chidom

Haley Gorecki

Kyra Lambert

Crystal Primm

Faith Suggs

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