Where’s the busiest place in Seattle on Christmas? This little Chinese restaurant.

On Christmas Eve or Christmas Day, some Seattleites will tear emerald and crimson wrapping paper apart to uncover new flannel pajamas in some manner of plaid. Some parents will prop up video cameras as antsy children fiddle before a tinseled Christmas tree. Some will carefully cut into glazed hams and roast beef as orange slices and cinnamon sticks float atop a simmering pot of mulled wine.

A select few, however, will wander below crimson- and golden-tiled pavilions or alongside kaleidoscopic murals of dragons snaking across South King Street in Seattle’s International District.

They’ll follow scents of pork chow mein, sweet and sour spareribs, and oyster sauce beef up to 655 S King Street, where a red and white neon sign reading four simple words will deem their journey complete: Tai Tung Chop Suey.

Touted as “Seattle’s oldest Chinese restaurant,” it’s hosted thousands of Emerald City locals and visitors on an international scale for decades.

For the holidays, it’s an entirely new game.

Originally a typical Jewish festivity, donning your densest coat to embrace the roads and nosh on a bounty of Chinese food Christmas Eve or Christmas Day (because they used to be many of the only restaurants open over the holidays) has now become a mass exodus of a tradition for many families across the world, spiritual or not.

Seattle’s International District will be slammed with Seattleites on a hunger strike for comfort fare through New Year’s Day. Specifically on Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, New Year’s Eve, and New Year’s Day, anticipate long lines of noodle-slurping noshers circling about for a squeezable parking spot.

Of course, Tai Tung already knows that, because they started taking reservations a month ago, and take-out orders as of last week.

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Inside the 84-year-old Chinese restaurant, you’ll likely find owner Harry Chan behind an old-school, L-shaped counter knotting plastic take-out bags over soups, sauces, and of course, plenty of steamed rice.

The restaurant was opened in 1935 by Chan’s grandfather, though Chan didn’t move from Hong Kong to Seattle until 1968, where he learned the tricks of the trade from his father and inherited the third generation restaurant soon after.

“My son, Gordon, he started working here when he was six years old,” Chan said. “We just pulled up a stool for him and he’d stand there and type away on the cash register.”

As photographs of famed visitors and Tai Tung lovers like Anthony Bourdain, Bill Gates, and Bruce Lee (his favorite dish being the beef in oyster sauce,) watch the hustle and bustle from picture frames dangling along the walls, the restaurant will see an especially chaotic running of steamed rice from one table to another this Christmas Eve and Christmas Day between the hours of 4 to 7 p.m., though the swinging doors will stay open from 11 a.m. to 10:30 p.m.

“I think that next month after Bruce Lee said that was his favorite dish at his favorite restaurant, we sold more beef in oyster sauce than any we had sold in nearly half a year,” Chan said with a laugh.

Surpassing Mother’s Day (because many of the husbands don’t prefer the pressure of a fancy Mom’s Day meal, Gordon suggested), next week will host their busiest two days of the year.

Busy, as in Chan expects well over a thousand guests over those 48 hours alone.

Of course, that doesn’t even include their take-out orders.

“Some people will wait an hour, some of them for two hours,” he said. “People just want to come to Tai Tung!”

To Chan, it’s as simple as that.

At least, for the holidays, he’ll have his entire family (including 12 grandchildren) to help him out.

“My dad works nonstop, every day, for 12 to 14 hours,” Gordon said. “He’s a jack of all trades. One minute he’s a bartender or a cook, another he’s a dishwasher, a janitor, or a waiter. Harry is magnet, he’s so easy going and so giving, people like him, they like our food, and they keep coming back.”

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As the restaurant becomes busier and busier every year across the holidays, the Chan’s have endured a history of both hope and fortitude.

“About 10 years ago, Chinatown was in a downward spiral,” Gordon said. “It’s funny because my dad and I, we’ll talk sometimes, and he’ll say ‘Back then we just hoped somebody walked through the door, now it’s like, oh boy, we’ve got to stop for the day, it’s crazy!’ Chinatown is booming.”

As a 6-year-old hovering over a vintage cash register, Gordon recalled memories of his own.

“Every time I come in here it’s memorable,” he said. “Here I was, six years old, up at the counter talking to anybody and everybody about everything. I remember looking up and thinking ‘Oh my god, that’s Larry Bird, oh my god, that’s Bill Gates,’ yet I have that appreciation for everyone who walks through those doors.”

Of course, with Chinese comfort fare, an “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” originality, and friendly service, comes its own challenges with incoming crowds.

“It’s tougher every year to make it work because there’s only so much space,” Gordon said. “People make time to come in here and we want to make sure that they get a good experience, and it’s hard when people are waiting or it’s busy, and all you want to do is provide them a place of comfort.”

Yet, apparently guests don’t really mind waiting an hour or two for a plate of made-from-scratch sweet and sour spareribs and a fortune cookie to crack open.

For those shuffling below Tai Tung’s neon sign, it’s worth the wait.

Especially if it’s tradition.

“Harry really has this care and passion to get to know his customers. The scary part is, you’ll come back and he will know who you are,” Gordon said with a laugh. “In fact, he’ll go ahead and vacation with his customers.”

Chan’s sense of travel rings true. When he’s not peeling shrimp, prepping squid, or handing out lollipops from behind the counter, he’s probably on a plane.

“I want to see the world before I get too old,” Chan said. “It’s my only way to really get a break from the restaurant.”

After visits to Machu Picchu, the Taj Mahal, his family farm in Hong Kong, and recently, the Great Pyramid of Giza, he’s hard at work on the seven wonders of the world.

You’ll probably catch Chan passing out a couple hundred fortune cookies or tinkering on the cash register this Christmas Eve, Christmas, and truthfully, most other days of the year.

If you don’t, he’s probably at the Coliseum. But as usual, he’ll be back.