Happy holidays to all from MLB.com.
The Mets' 2011 first-round Draft pick, Brandon Nimmo, made his big league debut in Atlanta last June, and he should again play a role in the outfield in '17. Here's a holiday-themed Q&A with the gregarious rookie, who shares how he spends his Christmas in and around snowy Wyoming:
MLB.com: What was a typical Christmas like for you growing up?
Brandon Nimmo: We would always go to a town called La Junta, Colo., on Christmas Eve and spend that with my grandparents -- my dad's parents. We would go and enjoy Christmas Eve there, and then for Christmas Day, we would normally come back and spend that with just my immediate family -- my brother and my sister in Cheyenne.
Now we've come up with a tradition where we like to go up to Happy Jack in Wyoming. It's an old abandoned ski area. I don't do it anymore, but everybody would hop on inner tubes or sleds and take them down the ski jump. Even though I can't do that anymore, I'll go up and have fun, so now we do that on Christmas Day in the afternoon.
MLB.com: You recently became engaged. Have you been spending recent holidays with your fiancée?
Nimmo: Yeah, for the past two years, she's been coming out to Wyoming. This year, we're all going to meet in Omaha, Neb., because my brother's on call for work, so we're going to take Christmas to him. It'll be a new tradition. But the premise of it all is to get the family together. We have a really tightknit family, and we really do love and enjoy each other. I'm very, very blessed to have that, so we like to enjoy it all the time.
MLB.com What was your favorite Christmas gift growing up?
Nimmo: As a family one Christmas, we got a foosball table. Santa brought it. And I was like, 'Yes! Santa brought an amazing present!' We had that downstairs. That was a lot of fun because my dad, he played foosball, too. It was another way for my dad and I to connect, and I would play with my brother and sister, too. So I would say that one really stands out because it was a big one, a big present. I came running down the stairs, and all of a sudden we had a big foosball table all wrapped up. So that was pretty cool.
MLB.com: Any Nimmo family food specialties?
Nimmo: Food-wise, we would usually do a honey ham. My brother wasn't huge into turkey and my dad wasn't huge into turkey, either, so we would do the honey ham. Then there are these potatoes that my grandma would make -- they were cheesy potatoes on the bottom, and then on the top you would actually put cornflakes. It's really different, but good. Crunchy and soft. Those are always served on Christmas Day. And then you've always got your sweet potato mash with brown sugar -- it's awful for you, but it's delicious. It's delicious.
So we'd have that, and mom would always make divinity candy. That is actually a very fine process to make it. It's basically sugar and water, but you have to make sure that the sugar is just at the right temperature so you can ball it up. But if it doesn't ball up or it gets too sticky, then you're done. So that was always a big deal when mom was making the divinity candy. I would help bake with her -- I love sweets, so I would help her with that. And then if we were making cookies, I'd get to eat a little cookie dough, or try the divinity candy when it was hot and fresh. I'd help a little bit, but mom was the cook.
MLB.com: Favorite Christmas carol?
Nimmo: I don't know if it's a carol, but I really love "Joy to the World."
MLB.com: Favorite Christmas movie?
Nimmo: I really love "A Christmas Story." Oh, man. I watch the marathon, the 24-hour one, but we also have it on DVD. My dad loves the "fragile" part. We even have a leg lamp that we bring out. Mom won't let it come out this year, but my dad loves it. I thought it was awesome. It's a major award! I love that movie. It's a family tradition to watch that.