Locals Weigh In on How They Celebrate the Holidays

Michael Bergin

Former actor known for Baywatch and featured in the docuseries After Baywatch: A Moment in the Sun on Hulu. Currently runs the Valley-based real estate firm The Bergin Group.

Our favorite holiday tradition has become what we call my “residual tree.” I use my residuals from when I was on Baywatch. They can be anywhere from 3¢ up to $90. I put the checks in envelopes with bows all laid out in the shape of a Christmas tree on the back of our front door. Taking turns, the kids (now ages 24 and 20) get to select an envelope and keep the money. It’s hilarious when they select one with a couple cents in it. 

Each year we also host an annual holiday party with neighbors, friends and clients. It’s always such a fun evening, and a great way to introduce new neighbors to older ones. It’s also great to reconnect with past clients and friends that we haven’t seen in a while.

Mayim Bialik

Actor known for The Big Bang Theory and Blossom; currently executive producer of the documentary Mom & Dad’s Nipple Factory, now streaming on Apple TV+ and Prime Video.

We celebrate Chanukah, and because the Jewish calendar is lunar, our holidays shift depending on the moon cycle. This year, the eight-day festival starts after Christmas and goes through New Year’s. We eat delicious food fried in oil, and we light the chanukiah (an eight-branched menorah) every night. We also sing songs in Hebrew and Yiddish, and we actually do play dreidl, which is a spinning top with four sides.

My older son will be home from college after his first semester, so it will be a special Chanukah this year. I usually host a little Chanukah party for friends, and I spend most of the time in the kitchen frying latkes (potato pancakes).

Phillip Frankland Lee

Owner of Scratch restaurants and Pasta|Bar, which in 2024 retained its Michelin star for the fourth consecutive year.

For Thanksgiving, we typically have 40 to 50 people over. We serve margaritas and I cook the whole thing. Believe it or not, I stay traditional—mainly my grandmother’s recipes.  I marinate the turkey in a trash bag inside an Igloo cooler overnight with melted butter, herbs, lemons, oranges and pineapples. Margarita (his pastry chef wife) serves her famous sourdough and butter and usually a few pies.

With our daughter Aurelia being 2½, she’s excited for Christmas, so this year is going to be super magical. Margarita and I don’t usually get each other anything too big. Our lives are our gifts; we really focus on our daughter.

Frank Buckley

Anchor on KTLA 5 Morning News and host/executive producer of Frank Buckley Interviews airing on weekends on KTLA 5.

On Christmas Day, I wake up before everyone in the family and start a fire in the fireplace. I put KTLA on TV, so we’ll have the Yule log burning on TV and a real fire burning in our living room. My wife, Elena, and I look forward to having our sons (Ben, 27 and Sebastian, 24) home with us for Christmas Day, and we all open presents together. Later, we bring my mom over for Christmas dinner. In between, I expect we’ll watch basketball and movies like Home Alone. 

On New Year’s Eve, Elena and I host seven or eight couples who are longtime friends for a small potluck party. Josh Mankiewicz (Dateline correspondent) and his wife, Tee, have made a rib roast the past few years and I make martinis. We watch the ball drop at midnight in New York (9 p.m. our time) and have a champagne toast and dessert before we call it a night!

Joey Vahedi

Actor currently costarring in The Chosen, now streaming across multiple platforms including Netflix and Hulu.

We do Secret Santa and White Elephant every year with family, and it gets quite rowdy! We also have Ugly Xmas Sweater parties, and love to watch holiday movies. Shoutout to Elf and Harry Potter!

One of my favorite events is the big Christmas party our family has with cousins, uncles, aunts, etc. It’s usually filled with loud conversation, amazing food, and watching football. A lot of us are in a fantasy football league together and the trash talk runs rampant. In recent years we’ve added some holiday games with prizes, which tends to make the environment even more lively. It’s fun to see people’s competitive side come out. What potentially winning a Starbucks gift card does to a person—incredible!

Photographed by Dean Foreman