We caught up with some of your Stampeders — Alex Singleton, DaVaris Daniels, Junior Turner, Kamar Jorden and Roy Finch — to find out their thoughts on everything Christmas! Read on to find out what they had to say about Christmas presents, holiday eats and ugly decorations…

Where are you planning to spend Christmas this year?

Singleton: Back home in California for the first time in three years. I’ve been at school and then was in Minnesota last year.

Daniels: With my family in Philadelphia.

Turner: Either in Toronto or Jamaica with family.

Jorden: I will be home back in Philly spending Christmas with my mother and my son and the rest of my family.

Finch: I am spending Christmas in Oklahoma City with my grandmother, my granddad, my daughter, girlfriend. Just family.

Does your family have any Christmas traditions?

Singleton: We still get up every morning and Santa leaves the presents under the tree and we open them up. We get our stockings. We’re usually all together. Breakfast always before we get to open presents. We gotta wait, it’s the worst!

Daniels: We usually eat before we open presents. I think that’s our only tradition.

Turner: The tradition is… as long as I get a plate of oxtail I’ll be happy.

Jorden: My mom usually wants to make a tree. Since her kids are older now she usually doesn’t make the tree until like two days before Christmas now. She’s getting real lazy now. She’ll definitely make the tree and tell little kids to come over and help her. So that’s always a good time.

Finch: Big Thanksgiving-style dinner. We really cook on Thanksgiving. Turkey, stuffing, cranberry on the turkey. We do it big.

What’s the best Christmas present you’ve ever given?

Singleton: My girlfriend got to go to Jamaica when football season ended. So I think that’s a pretty good Christmas present.

Daniels: I gave my mom a necklace one time and she loved it. She still wears it to this day. I think that’s probably the best one.

Turner: My mother… the birth of me.

Jorden: Maybe two Christmases ago I took my son to the mall and told him I was just getting him clothes. So I took him to the toy store, that’s the first store we went into, and I said you get one toy for the day and that’s all you get. So he’s grabbing a bunch of stuff and I’m like no you can’t get it, you can’t get that. And I just let him get this little cheap toy, maybe five dollars. But I knew the whole time, ‘Ok that’s what he wants, that’s what he wants’. So when Christmas came, all them toys that he picked up, he got all that stuff for Christmas.

Finch: It’s gonna be this year, so I can’t say yet. You like that?

What’s the best Christmas present you’ve ever received?

Singleton: Our dog Daisy. She’s getting older now but I would definitely say she’s up there on the list. She’s gotta be 13 or 14 now so I was maybe 10 when we got her. Or maybe an X-Box or something.

Daniels: It usually gets better every year because there’s a new game that comes out on PS4.

Turner: It was when I was younger, I think I might’ve been about eight, and pretty much the majority of my family was together at Christmas in Jamaica.

Jorden: A Dyno Bike when I was young. My mom was all acting like she couldn’t afford it and stuff like that. And I honestly didn’t think I was going to get it. I was just kind of focused on everything else. So when I got bike —  she brought it out at like the last second —  I went crazy over there.

Finch: Probably a Christmas card from my grandma. It was something that she said to me that kind of stuck with me. Just hearing it come from her kind of stuck with me.

Who is the hardest person to buy a present for?

Singleton: My mom. She always takes stuff back it seems like.

Daniels: My dad cuz he has everything. I don’t really know what else he needs so I just get him socks.

Turner: I’d have to say my mother because she always says, “Oh, you could’ve got this too.” She’s never satisfied.

Jorden: My brother for sure. He’s super picky but he tries to act like he’s not. He’ll be like, “You didn’t get me anything.” And then you get him something and he’s never excited about anything. So it’s always the hardest for him.

Finch: Probably my sister, Paradise. She’s very picky. I have to ask her first before I buy her a gift. With everybody else I can just buy them the gift, but with her it has to be perfect.

Do you use wrapping paper or gift bags?

Singleton: Whatever my sisters do. I just give them the presents I buy and then the ones I buy for my sisters I give to my mom. I’m not very good at wrapping presents.

Daniels: Wrapping paper. I don’t know why, we just always have. I’m not good at wrapping. My sister is. I have her wrap all my presents for my parents.

Turner: Gift bags. I’m a great wrapper but I just don’t always want to do it. But, you know, all you do with a gift bag is put two tapes on the left side and right side, write your name and we’re off to the party.

Jorden: I’m more of a wrapping paper, even though it’s a struggle for me. For the last three years I had to YouTube how to wrap gifts. I actually watch the YouTube while I’m wrapping it.

Finch: I do use wrapping paper. My grandma had to teach me how to wrap. I didn’t know how to wrap until like last year. I definitely do the wrapping.

Real tree or artificial?

Singleton: Real tree! You gotta have the smell. We go to a Christmas tree lot. There aren’t many forests in California.

Daniels: We’ve had a lot of real trees but the last couple years we’ve had artificial ones. So both.

Turner: Artificial. Don’t want to clean up all those shrubs.

Jorden: Artificial.

Finch: Real tree. Gotta go with a real tree. The real wood, the bark, something about the smell of it. My granddad used to chop all his own wood before Christmas, like months in advance. I just like the smell of the wood being burned.

Angel or star on top of your tree?

Singleton: Star

Daniels: Star

Turner: Star

Jorden: Star, for sure.

Finch: More of an angel in my house because my grandma’s real Christian woman.

What’s your favourite thing to eat on Christmas?

Singleton: I like the little gingerbread men. Those are the best.

Daniels: Probably macaroni and cheese and fried chicken.

Turner: Oxtail

Jorden: Christmas cookies. All day.

Finch: Turkey BBQ. North Carolina-style BBQ.

What’s your favourite Christmas song?

Singleton: We wish you a Merry Christmas

Daniels: Rudolph, for sure.

Turner: Don’t have one.

Jorden: Michael Jackson “I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus.” I like that one.

Finch: Frank Sinatra. I don’t really have a song but I like hearing Frank Sinatra’s voice on Christmas. I like Frank!

Ugliest Christmas decoration ever invented?

Singleton: None of them are terrible. I love the blow-up things. My house has tons of them. I love Christmas!

Daniels: I never understood the candy canes on the tree. I don’t really like that. It makes the tree look weird. I just like the lights.

Turner: I hate pine cones on trees. I’m sorry. I hate pine cones on trees. Even when they put glitter and stuff on them, I hate them. I don’t understand the point of them. I just don’t like them.

Jorden: A lot of the Christmas wreaths are ugly. Like the little brown sticks and stuff like that. I can pass on those.

Finch: I don’t even know. Probably one of those clown blow-up things that they have outside when you try to get your car washed that they use to promote it. I don’t like that. Like, you’re scaring kids.