It's difficult to imagine anyone enjoying the holiday season more than Brandon Nimmo, the Mets' breakout outfielder. Playing the role of Santa Claus at the Mets' holiday party for the second straight year, Nimmo said he'd like to make that role a permanent thing. But donning the suit, beard and belly isn't the only part of Christmas that Nimmo loves. He recently sat down with MLB.com to reflect on what makes the holiday special for him.
MLB.com: What was a typical Christmas like for you growing up in Wyoming?
Brandon Nimmo: For us, it was normally white and chilly. We usually had snow on Christmas. I remember hot cocoa, apple cider. And then we would always wait until Christmas morning to open up the presents. When I was young until I was probably like 12 or 13 years old, I [could] hardly sleep the night before. I was so excited. Christmas was always my favorite time of year when I was growing up. It was giving, it was presents, it was time with family. As I got a little bit older, my sister and my brother would go off to college and that meant time with them again. So for me, it's always held a special place in my heart.
MLB.com: How did the day usually unfold?
Nimmo: We'd go to a Christmas Eve service and then we'd come back and watch "A Christmas Story," since it's normally playing for 24 hours. It's just an awesome movie. We'd watch the cartoon "How the Grinch Stole Christmas" and then we'd watch "A Christmas Story" and drink hot cocoa and apple cider, and then [on Christmas morning, we] opened up the presents. And then we'd all just sit around and enjoy the family time for the rest of the day.
MLB.com: What was the best gift you ever received?
Nimmo: We got a foosball table one year as a family, from Santa. That one got its use, no doubt. My dad and I would play, and my brother and sister. That one was pretty good.
MLB.com: What sorts of foods did you look forward to?
Nimmo: Normally we'd have a honey-glazed ham. My mom would always make twice-baked potatoes, and we'd have these other special potatoes that my grandma would make that were cheesy with cornflakes on top. They were amazing. We definitely got our starches. My dad would have some eggnog with some cinnamon or nutmeg on top. Another big thing was divinity candy, which is extremely hard to make. You have to get the sugar just right where it's malleable, so I remember that always being stressful for mom when she would make the divinity candy and fudge. But I do remember it being very, very good. It's pretty much pure sugar. There were always plenty of sweets around Christmastime.
MLB.com: How much did you take advantage of the snow?
Nimmo: Recently, we've been going to this place called Happy Jack. It used to be a ski resort, but it's since been abandoned. So now people just go up there with inner tubes and sleds, and we'll just ride down. There's a few that are nice little hills. We've done that the past five years or so, going down the bunny slope. You can get going pretty good on those inner tubes.
MLB.com: Favorite Christmas movie?
Nimmo: "A Christmas Story."
MLB.com: Favorite Christmas song?
Nimmo: The Chipmunks Christmas song. The hula hoop one!
MLB.com: Now that you're spending your offseason living in New York, what does going back and spending time with your family at Christmas mean to you?
Nimmo: It's really, really special because family time is fewer and far between now. With us kind of spread out across the country, it is very, very nice. That's the main reason that I like Christmas is to get back together with family. Everybody makes it a priority and you miss that time.
But being here in New York, we get to have a lot of Christmas festivities going on. There's really nothing like holidays in New York because everything's to the max. When my parents were down here right after Thanksgiving, I took them down to Saks Fifth Avenue to see the lights. We went to Rockefeller Center, and [I] showed them the skating rink. They've got it all decorated out. So we really do enjoy our time here and the holidays here.