What are your family's unique Christmas traditions?
I originally posted this in the "Should Know" thread, but I think the topic would be interesting for a separate thread:
In our family, we actually start the Christmas celebration on the night of Dec 24th, by going to midnight Mass. When we get home from church, we open one gift each from family members. We then go to bed before Santa gets here (gifts from the family are gift wrapped and have been under the tree for several days). Gifts from Santa, traditionally for us, are not wrapped and mysteriously appear under the tree before we awake on Christmas morning. On Christmas morning, the parents are usually awakened by very excited children. After the grownups get their coffee, we all gather around the Christmas Tree, where one or two of the kids are assigned to hand out the gifts. Christmas Day is usually centered around the kids and family; family members who aren't present get a phone call and get "passed around the room" to receive Christmas wishes from everyone. We end the Day with a fairly large meal (this year I'm cooking a rib roast).
It would be interesting to hear other families' personal Christmas traditions. If you don't celebrate Christmas, please don't be offended, tell us how you celebrate your Winter Holiday, whatever it may be.
We don't really have any, other than driving around the neighborhood looking at people's lights. I suppose we do a nice breakfast, but dinners are pretty nonchalont. We had Tacos for Xmas dinner last year, and our Xmas eve dinner this year (today) was spaghetti and tacos. Don't ask...
On Christmas Eve I make a wine-braised glazed ham that I bring over to the inlaws for their holiday dinner. For our Christmas dinner I have for many years prepared an aged standing rib roast, Yorkshire pudding, various vegetables, served a fine wine and sparkling cider, and finish off with a home-made plum pudding blazing with ignited brandy, with a dollop of hard sauce (powdered sugar, butter, and a splash of brandy or rum) then we pop Christmas crackers.
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M parents played very little at holiday traditions, so I'm making them up as I go.
Tonight in addition to the cookies and milk for Santa, we put out carrots and celery for the reindeer.. after all, they are doing all the work and the last they need is Santa loading up on empty calories.
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What has become tradition for me, is going with my Church family to a number of events during the day. I f you don't already know, I work with some of the more unfortunate people in my hometown. Normally when we have a meal i'm doing the cooking, but on Christmas day, we are lucky enough to have a number of organisations who allow us to bring people to their establishments for a holiday meal!
so the Day starts off with a short service, just a reminder of why we are coming together, then we marshall 150 people down to a restaurant in the docklands called the Mecca Bar [ironic I know considering what we are celebrating, going to mecca] Then we race back to Church at about 12, to meet another crowd, and take them down to a lunch provided by the Collingwood Football Club, [my boss is the teams Chaplain]. Then this year, we have an evening meal at another restaurant called the Trunk, about 120 people again.
It probably seems strange, but a lot of the people that come to these events are long term users of the social services my church provides, and over the time I've been working there I have gotten to know quite a few of them. [that few actually indicates a number in the hundreds] and the joy of the day for me, is getting to wander around and socialise with all of these friends.
Obviously I don't eat all of the food offered, or I'd be rolling home, but is incredible to participate in such a large community, that a lot of the members of, don't really have an alternative event to go to for Christmas. :)
We celebrate xmas on the afternoon on dec 24th.
This is a bit unusual but we don't want to prolong the agony for the children so they are having their xmas gifts before they get too exited and tired.
After the traditional royal speach the adults may therefore enjoy a nice meal and some fine wines in relative pease.
Later in the evening - after the dishes are done - we are dancing around the xmas tree singing welknown psalms and traditional songs before swapping gifts - while enjoying some sweeties and liquids.
The day after - at lunch time - we're enjoying some really nice danish smorebrod in all varitions.
And we makes sure that the heerings still swims in snaps :p
And then we are all having a long walk while greeting our neighbors.
For as long as I can remember, we have gone to my Grandma's for Christmas day. She spent this year in the hospital recovering from bowel obstruction surgery (she's still there )
We have started a new tradition w/our kids. They get to open one gift on Christmas Eve, and it is new jammies to wear that night.
What we do at my house is we don't open all our gifts on Christmas day. Then for the next week or so, we will open one of our gifts every two or three days. It really prolongs Christmas, and makes the fun last a lot longer.
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Ever since I was little, my mother use to buy everyone a new Christmas ornament. She would put our name and the year given somewhere on it, then when we moved out on our own that Christmas she would box up our ornaments so we had a nice start on our own tree......my parents have sinced passed, but my sisters and I continue giving each other ornaments each year to continue the tradition. It makes each ornament special................:love:
Ever since I was little, my mother use to buy everyone a new Christmas ornament. She would put our name and the year given somewhere on it, then when we moved out on our own that Christmas she would box up our ornaments so we had a nice start on our own tree......my parents have sinced passed, but my sisters and I continue giving each other ornaments each year to continue the tradition. It makes each ornament special................:love:
of course I did get an ugly flamingo one year
Sounds like a wonderful family tradition, baylee! :approve: And a great way to carry on the memory of your parents! I hope it carries on to your future generations.
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