Thursday, December 25, 2025

Good Morning and Merry Christmas! On this day in 1606, the Jamestown settlers celebrated Christmas on the Atlantic aboard their small ships. They wouldn't reach Jamestown until May and would celebrate their first Christmas together that year.

This is a shortened holiday edition of The Virginia Flyover. Today is the one day of the year when our whole team takes the day off, so there'll be no edition tomorrow. The full Virginia Flyover will be back in your inbox on Monday.

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Take The Flyover with you. Busy day? Listen to our daily 15-minute podcast while commuting, cooking, or walking the dog—your Flyover fix, anywhere.

Christmas Memories

We asked our Flyover community to share stories of Christmas past, and you didn't disappoint!

Lee wrote that there is "nothing more exciting on Christmas than welcoming your child into the world. Our daughter was born on Christmas Day, and it forever changed our Christmas tradition. This year, we will be celebrating the first Christmas of our daughter's first child, born in May."

Anna found that Christmas joy can grow out of sorrow. "After we lost my husband in a car crash in 2016, we received a Norfolk Pine from a cousin. That next Christmas, we used the Norfolk Pine as our Christmas tree. We are still using it as our Christmas tree, and now it touches the ceiling!"

Cathy, a Flyover writer, described how her family remembers what Christmas is all about. "We bake a birthday cake for Jesus that becomes the centerpiece of the table. At midnight, the youngest child at the celebration blows out the candles after we all sing Happy Birthday. Afterwards, the children each open one gift."

Some prefer noisier or messier celebrations. Willow described "Christmas morning in Carysbrook: four sisters in one upstairs bedroom, awakened by grandparents sending up fireworks outside of our window; joined by neighbors for breakfast of ham biscuits and oyster stew; singing around the piano as the old folks marveled at modern toys: Spirograph and Slinky."

Wayne added this: "When I was growing up in St. Louis, my father once made sled marks in the lawn on Christmas Eve, after the kids went to bed."

Thanks to all who wrote in, and Merry Christmas to everyone in our Flyover family!

Holiday Travel

A record number of Virginians—3.4 million, according to AAA—are traveling this holiday season. Of those, 186,000 are expected to fly, while nearly 3 million will travel more than 50 miles by car.

Drivers may be spending more time in traffic, but they are paying less at the pump: gas prices average $2.74 per gallon, the lowest in four years.

Fliers should be ready to clear security. "We ask that you pack smart and prepare before you come to the airport to make the experience much smoother for everybody," a TSA spokesperson said ahead of the holiday.

The worst may be over for now. Christmas Day itself usually sees less congestion on the roads than the days leading up to it.

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➤ Statewide: Virginians eat more candy canes—or at least buy them to hang on the tree—than people in all but four other states, according to a review by candymaker Brach's. (More)

➤ Williamsburg: The attraction once known as the Presidents Heads will be open to the public on Saturday, one of only a handful of times it has been available to visit this year. (Buy Tickets)

➤ Richmond: If you haven't communed with the ghosts of Christmas past, present, and future yet this year, the Virginia Repertory Theater is giving you more opportunities. It's presenting live performances of A Christmas Carol through the weekend. (Review)

➤ Jamestown: Christmas lasts longer than one day in Hampton Roads. Celebrate Christmastide for the next week, until New Year's Eve. (Details)

➤ Statewide: Your car has headlights and tail lights, but shouldn't sport holiday lights, according to the Virginia State Police. (Here's Why)

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