Question Christmas Traditions

Steven123

Steven123

Angel's Buddy
Joined
Oct 1, 2011
Messages
606
Age
34
Location
United Kingdom
Credit goes to [MENTION=10608]Firefly[/MENTION] for the idea on this one lol.


Is there any sort of tradition that you do on Christmas eve/Christmas, or New Year etc? For example is there always a certain someone you always contact on one/all of those days? Is there a certain food that you always have? Any sort of thing that you have done every year etc?
 
Well my family has a whole heap of Christmas traditions. We always get the Christmas tree the day after thanksgiving. And we decorate it the first week of December. We also read A Christmas Memory by Truman Capote every year. Well, my mom reads it outloud and cries the whole way through it. On Christmas Eve, we go to whoever in my mom's family is hosting Christmas that year's house and we exchange gifts with them (my grandfather, great-grandmother, aunt and uncle and their two kids, my other aunt and her son). Then on Christmas day we open gifts between our immediate family at mom's, head over to dad's and open gifts there. Then dad makes a BIG Christmas dinner that everyone helps make. We usually have duck. And it's this big giant thing. In the past years, I dreaded the dinner. But this year, I can't wait to be in the kitchen cooking with my dad and my sisters...
 
Our tradition is normally that the weekend after Thanksgiving, we put on Christmas music and my husband puts up the Christmas tree and then we all decorate it together as a family. Then, we will usually bake cookies and watch a Christmas movie together.

This year, my husband won't be here for the holidays so it will just be me and the girls, but I'm going to try my hardest to uphold the tradition. Also, we are starting a new tradition this year as well... I'm going to take my girls to Hallmark and let them each pick a Disney-themed ornament for the tree.
 
brinkster130
brinkster130
Aww, my sisters and I got a Disney themed ornament each year! Your girls are going to love a tradition like that :)
^ Your husband won't be there? That's so sad...

- Mom always buys pjs for me and my brother and we open them Christmas Eve.

- My brother and I exchange gifts Christmas Eve and we open them.
 
HisMrs said:
Also, we are starting a new tradition this year as well... I'm going to take my girls to Hallmark and let them each pick a Disney-themed ornament for the tree.
Click to expand...

That reminds me of another thing my family does. We had one ornament to the tree every year. When we were little, we did one per child... but now we do one family one. And every year while putting up the tree, we argue about who gets what ornaments when mom dies. That sounds more morbid than it is...
 
zobothehobo said:
That reminds me of another thing my family does. We had one ornament to the tree every year. When we were little, we did one per child... but now we do one family one. And every year while putting up the tree, we argue about who gets what ornaments when mom dies. That sounds more morbid than it is...
Click to expand...

And THAT reminds ME of one of my family traditions. My grandmother buys an ornament for everyone in the family based on their interests and personalities and lives and surprises them with it on Christmas Eve. I think it's so cool because she does it for everyone in the family, and so you can look at the ornaments someone received and you have the story of who they are in my family... like I used to get Barbie and American Girl ornaments, but two years ago I got this gorgeous miniature flute (last year's was rather off, I got a Bella and Edward ornament). And my dad has ornaments only from 2002 on, so you can tell when he and my mom got married, and they're all Star Trek and Harry Potter and video game related.

Other traditions we have (that we still do; a lot got dropped for one reason or another) include the bed tradition, which sounds like a horrible tradition, but it's kind of nice. We can't open presents or look in our stockings until our bed is made. And our stockings always include some sort of book, normally a small paperback or manga for me and comics for my brothers. And one thing which is less of a tradition and more of a rule is that only one person can open a present at a time. That person gets all the attention and gets to talk about their present and show everyone, and on top of that, it prolongs the celebrations. It's one of the best things about my family's Christmas, in my opinion.
 
Oh speaking of the grandma thing... My grandmother used to needlpoint everyone stockings. Everyone has one. And when I get married, I'm going to learn to needlepoint so I can make my wife one and our kids will each have one too.
 
I don't think we have any super unusual traditions in our family. We watch donald duck and "kan du vissla johanna", we eat christmas lunch. We don't celebrate with a lot of relatives though, we don't really have any. My parents parents are dead, and we don't have much contact with our cousins because of a falling out my dad had with her sisters. :/
 
We don't really have any traditions....my parents don't really celebrate it, my mum because of religous beliefs and my dad just can't be bothered I think lol So we usually just pop round there on boxing day, as we still get them gifts 🙂 My hubby likes to open a present or 2 on xmas eve, as that was tradition in his house but I like to open mine xmas day when I wake up, as that was tradition in mine lol 🙂 We usually put on xmas movies and have a cooked dinner, that's about it really 😀
 
Not really anymore. When I was younger I used to spend Christmas eve with my brother and grandmother. She'd take us into town or out to see the christmas lights everywhere and spoil us a bit. It was always better than christmas day itself, hasn't been the same since she died. I also spent the last 5 christmas eves at the cathedral in my city, singing 9 lessons and carols with the boys choir. We processed by candlelight and there was a huge christmas tree in the corner and the pieces we sang were always so beautiful they sent shivers down my spine.

Since going to uni I've not really done anything due to it being a lot of effort. Last year I drank mulled wine with my sister and heckled Songs of Praise on the TV, might do that again 😛
 
Christmas Eve is spent with my mom's side of the family and my grandma makes lots of Italian food, which we all sit around the tables we've pushed together to eat. Then, the adults all argue over who's going to get into the Santa suit and hand out presents. I don't know why they keep suggesting me... It's usually a pretty fun time if we can keep grandma and grandpa away from each other.

Christmas morning is for my Dad's side of the family. If you've graduated from high school, you buy a gift for someone of the same sex and get your name drawn from a hat to go and pick out a random present.

This year, my cousins are coming out from Colorado and staying with my grandma, and since I'm especially close with them, I'll be staying with them for a week. So, this year, I get to wake up on Christmas morning and hit my cousin, Liz, over the head with my pillow and shout, "WAKE UP, LIZARD BREATH, IT'S CHRISTMAS MORNING!!!" You're never too old to make new Christmas memories.
 
Here's one that I just remembered from my childhood:

Each Christmas. my mother would have a few gifts under the tree with no name on them. There would be something like a bottle of after shave lotion for a man, perfume for a woman, and a couple of games, or puzzles, or something like that, for kids. That way, if unexpected guests arrived while we were passing out the presents, they wouldn't be left out. If we didn't have any guests, then we got the presents extra.
 
There are a couple of food traditions my mum used to have that I try to continue when my brother is up for Xmas....Bacon in a freshly cooked bread roll for breakfast....toblerone chocolate as a present and mintcrisps by the tv lol. To be honest I am trying to make new traditions based on the ones from when I was a kid for my daughter who will be 5 this Christmas. I miss my mum terribly and she was amazing every Christmas, making it magical in many ways. I just hope I can make this Christmas magical for my daughter and the things she likes that work I will carry on to next Christmas.
 
We alway celebrate with my grandparents. One evenig we celebrate at home and onther at my one grandparents and a third time by my second grandpartens. Then we eat always the same special-christmas meal, which is different from grandparents to grandparents. They cook for us 😀
Sometimes it's soup and then venison with salmon pate. And ice cream afterwards.

Then we sing some christmas songs. It's really fantastic! I love it.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom