christmas traditions (or other holidays!)

[Cailey]

what are your traditions? what do you celebrate?

I'm 20 so we don't do much anymore I suppose but my family and I celebrate christmas and my mom especially always went way out of her way to make it memorable for my siblings and I!

when I was younger, christmas eve, we all got to open one gift - pajamas. my mom bought my siblings and my dad pajamas each year and we would open them and run upstairs and put them on! we would turn the fireplace on, bake some cookies and have some christmas movies playing in the background. then we would decorate our own gingerbread houses! by like 10pm we would put the cookies we baked out with a glass of milk and we would always even buy carrots for the reindeer! we would throw giant carrots all over the front yard and put a giant tin of water out and then run inside and go to sleep. next morning, we would wake up at about 7am and then we would run downstairs and check the cookies and milk (santa would always leave a note in messy handwriting and made a MESS with the cookies and milk). (he was always in a hurry, duh!) .. then we would check on the carrots (which were always almost gone except crumbs) and the tin would have "hoof marks" in it and was always thrown elsewhere in the yard. then we would run inside and make some coffee and sit and open presents and our stockings! afterwards, my mom always made a huge breakfast and then that day we would leave for colorado for a week-long snowboarding trip up at the cabin. this has been done since I was about 5 years old!

I love the holidays and I love our traditions which I cannot wait to pass down to my newborn son when he's a wee bit older.... I want to hear all your holiday traditions as well! c:

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[piske]

Cute! I know a few people that have the pajama tradition too, and I think it's adorable!

When I was little, we would always celebrate Christmas as our small nuclear family, about a week or two before Christmas (we spent actual Christmas out of town). So, we didn't necessarily know when to expect Santa. The way we could tell, is that he (my mom lol) would leave a candy cane filled with candy or a stocking of candy on our door knobs. My sister and I would get up super early and check the outside of our doors for the candy. Then we would run into the living room and see the candy canes on the Christmas tree, stockings filled and presents under the tree. Then we would (im)patiently wait for our parents to get up. We would spend actual Christmas Eve/Day with our maternal side of the family, but it wasn't as joyous or fun because we only got 1 or 2 presents (we were kids, so that was our measuring stick) and had to go to church.

Now as adults we spend Christmas Eve and Day with our parents, Christmas Eve is still when we "celebrate", by opening our gifts. My mom makes lots of yummy hors d'oeuvres and we eat those and have wine and egg nog. Neither my sister or I have SOs, so it's us, my parents, their cats and my dog. It's a small celebration, but we enjoy it.

 

[ibelleS]

I'm not religious but I put up a miniature (like two foot tall) pink Barbie tree, except it's more of an orange now because I've had it since 2003

 

[mintellect]

Every year we assemble and decorate a Gingerbread house.

 

[KaydeeKrunk]

Since I've been in so many reincarnations of "family" I've gone through so many traditions, my favorite was when I was way younger we wouldn't have ANY presents under the tree until Christmas Eve, my mom and her boyfriend would hide them, I think it was mostly because we were trouble makers, my sister, my mom's boyfriend's kids and I. So Christmas Eve we would all go down all the rich people streets where they decorated elaborately, we had a street called Paradise Lane where every member of the neighborhood decorated their homes amazingly and we always went there and walked around. Then we'd come back home and open all our "family presents" on Christmas Eve, so the stuff from our parents and stuff we got, it was mostly clothes and maybe a few toys. Then we'd go to bed leaving out the cookies and milk for Santa and around like 6am we'd all wake each other up and run out and wake up our parents like "SANTA CAME COME ON SANTA CAME!" and then we'd have our Santa presents and our stockings in the morning and rip them all to shreds and spend the rest of the day playing and baking for our Christmas dinner.

Later, when my mom got with a different boyfriend who was rich we'd have like a GIANT Christmas tree in our huge "great room" (where we weren't even permitted besides special occasion and then only without shoes, because we'd ruin the carpet) and all the presents would be put out as they got them for us so it was like, surrounded in a huge pile of gifts starting early December. Then we'd still go look at lights Christmas Eve and get to choose one present to open and often times it was like "No, not that present" cause we always wanted to open our biggest presents. Then Christmas morning we'd have our few "Santa" gifts and our stockings which would be in a separate area so we could tell them from the Family gifts. And in the afternoon family would come over and my mom would be cooking all day and then we'd open presents including the piles more brought by his rich family all together and then we'd eat. I remember one Christmas, his mom had stayed over because she was from out of town and it was Christmas night and we were all sitting in the living room trying to rent "Elf" on the t.v. but it was stormy so it was coming in all messed up so we literally went to the movies, Christmas night, and saw like National Treasure or something because Elf wouldn't play on our tv... good times being rich for a while.

Now we have Christmas whenever everyone is home, there's no more Santa and I more often then not am the one filling the stockings with candy and small gifts, it's still fun, and we usually have like "Christmas lunch" or something and just spend some time together which is still nice, because that's what is important, and we still go look at lights, my community has a competition for best decorated houses and there are some really awesome ones, but that's usually earlier in December and it's neat we get to "rank" the houses as we drive around and turn them in, and whoever wins gets money, which I have been told barely covers their electricity bill. XD

 

[seliph]

We don't really do much, on Christmas Eve my mom's side of the family comes over and we eat and open presents and stuff and on Christmas my step-dad's side comes over for the same thing.

I'm not sure if it's gonna be completely the same this year though 'cause there's currently family drama going on but oh well

 

[Mokuren]

I think it's different here in Austria. We celebrate at the 24th of December and also open our presents at this day and we don't have santa but the christ child.
When we were younger we had a lot of traditions - and we still have some. (put the christmas wish list on the windowswill so the christ child can get it; it always stole our spoons haha). Decorate the christmas tree at the 23th of december and also the yearly walk with our dad (in the meanwhile the christ child brings all presents; now I know it's in fact my mom ;O; after that my cousins and aunts come over to have dinner together and things like that.

I love christmas

 

[MishMeesh]

Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol is my favourite story of all time. It's honestly part of the reason why I love Christmas. Each year I read the book in the days leading up to Christmas. I also watch as many film adaptations as I can get my hands on. The Muppet Christmas Carol is a must. This is just me, though. My family gets sick of it haha. But we do all watch the 1951 movie version together on Christmas Eve. That's always something we've done.

The tree usually goes up a couple of weeks before Christmas. We never travel on Christmas. For my family it's always been a day to relax and spend together, and make and eat food. If we do visit friends or family, we do it on Christmas Eve or the day before. A friend of the family often would hold a get together on Christmas Eve and I loved going to that. Also "tracking Santa" on Norad is still fun. Most of the presents these days are addressed specifically from who they're from, but "Santa" still leaves some each year. My mum's always been one to say that Santa is a metaphor for the spirit of Christmas, so she and dad still like to keep that alive each year.

Also, a tradition my uni roommates and I had was watching Black Christmas (1974) and scaring ourselves to death. I still do that. Just by myself now, in the dark. It makes it better/worse.

 

[TheGreatBrain]

When my kids were younger, we would open one present on Christmas eve. Always pajamas.Watch Christmas movies, and bake cookies. There were two trees. A big one and a little one for Santa mouse. We would read the Santa mouse stories and The night before Christmas. On Christmas morning there would be gifts under the big tree and a few little ones under the Santa mouse tree. My husband would make a turkey, and I would make pies and other yummy foods.

Now that my kids are way older, we go out to dinner on Christmas eve. No more Santa mouse, but I always fill their stockings. I make a big yummy breakfast, and the rest of the day, we just snack on chips and dip, pie, sandwiches, etc. We do go to the movies sometimes on Christmas. It just depends on what's playing.

 

[KaydeeKrunk]

Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol is my favourite story of all time. It's honestly part of the reason why I love Christmas. Each year I read the book in the days leading up to Christmas. I also watch as many film adaptations as I can get my hands on. The Muppet Christmas Carol is a must. This is just me, though. My family gets sick of it haha. But we do all watch the 1951 movie version together on Christmas Eve. That's always something we've done.

The tree usually goes up a couple of weeks before Christmas. We never travel on Christmas. For my family it's always been a day to relax and spend together, and make and eat food. If we do visit friends or family, we do it on Christmas Eve or the day before. A friend of the family often would hold a get together on Christmas Eve and I loved going to that. Also "tracking Santa" on Norad is still fun. Most of the presents these days are addressed specifically from who they're from, but "Santa" still leaves some each year. My mum's always been one to say that Santa is a metaphor for the spirit of Christmas, so she and dad still like to keep that alive each year.

Also, a tradition my uni roommates and I had was watching Black Christmas (1974) and scaring ourselves to death. I still do that. Just by myself now, in the dark. It makes it better/worse.

This just reminded me, we used to always go to the Charles Dickens Fair which is always super fun, it's like a Renaissance fair with lots of actors walking around in costumes and they have plays and really good food like hot cinnamon roasted nuts <3 I wish we could go this year, mayhaps I'll try to convince the family and take a day off so we can go!

I also LOVE Muppet's Christmas Carol, and have watched it every holiday season since forever, and I watch it out of season too, just because I really really enjoy it.

 

[MishMeesh]

This just reminded me, we used to always go to the Charles Dickens Fair which is always super fun, it's like a Renaissance fair with lots of actors walking around in costumes and they have plays and really good food like hot cinnamon roasted nuts <3 I wish we could go this year, mayhaps I'll try to convince the family and take a day off so we can go!

I also LOVE Muppet's Christmas Carol, and have watched it every holiday season since forever, and I watch it out of season too, just because I really really enjoy it.

Oh my goooosh, I don't know how I've never heard of this before, but if the Charles Dickens Fair is this one or one like it, it pretty much just instantly went on my bucket list to attend. Unfortunately I'm up in eastern Canada, the opposite side of the continent as that fair. [sigh] One day.

Muppet Christmas Carol is way up there in my most favourite Christmas movies. It's basically tied with the 1951 A Christmas Carol. And I also really love the Jim Carrey one that came out a few years ago, I feel like that one often gets overlooked but it stayed remarkably true to the book and was just really well done.

 

[Bloobloop]

we celebrate christmas and usually we travel to a different country. this time, we're going to peru

 

[satine]

Christmas is fun for me! Even as I grow older. (Admittedly, I'm a little sad I don't get stuffed animals anymore.) We always have a mini Christmas at my grandmother's house on the night before, we eat a lot of tex-mex and open gifts from my mom's family's side and sit around and chat. My uncles are really strange, and really entertaining once you get them together. Then we go home, and have Christmas day at my parent's place -- everyone from my Dad's side of the family gets there early in the morning. We eat pig in the blankets and really good cinnamon rolls, open gifts, and then have a big lunch-dinner before everyone goes home. I always try to fast the week before, I won't meet the Navy weight requirements after that entire week otherwise lmaooo.

 

[nami26]

On Christmas Eve, we always open ONE present before we went to bed to curb our curiosities till Christmas morning.

on Xmas morning, we always pick someone to be "Santa", usually it changes every year, youngest to oldest, and they basically give each person one present, and we each open our present, one at a time in youngest to oldest order, and once the last person (the oldest one) was done, the "Santa" would go collect 1 present per person again, so like rounds, until all the presents are gone.

 

[hamster]

we always put up a small fake tree a week before christmas because the dogs & cats would always mess up a normal one
& on christmas we all wake up at like 7am, open our presents together, do our own stuff then we get together again and eat roast dinner

 

[nintendofan85]

I first go to church service on Christmas Eve and then that night go unwrap presents at my grandma's house (on my mom's side) while then on Christmas Day I go unwrap presents at the house of my grandma on my dad's side. Most of my family on both sides comes on each day.