Holiday Traditions

Everything seems to be gearing toward Christmas now, and I thought this might be a good time to start sharing some of your beloved traditions for this time of year. A lot of people have many traditions aside from the common ones for any given holiday. A few examples to get us started:

Being religious, every year on Christmas Eve each member of my family writes a promise to Jesus on a piece of paper, folds it up, and puts it in a stocking. That same night, we read the piece of paper we put in there last year, and see how well we did. Kind of like a New Years' resolution, but religious.

Also, beginning usually around the first of December, each family member that lives in the house (which I don't anymore ) is awarded a small handful of straw to put into a manger for each good deed they do. The goal is to do enough good deeds that baby Jesus has a comfortable place to lay come Christmas morning. Usually he writes a letter of thanks (penned by my mom, of course, but the young kids are always amazed) and it helps us keep our focus on what we believe is the most important part of the holiday.

A typical Christmas morning begins with the younger kids waking up ridiculously early, rushing out to the living room and digging in their stockings to see what they got. They eat whatever's edible, play with whatever toys they received, and then we all have Christmas breakfast, with (most notably) juicy ham and eggnog or cranberry juice with sprite. By the time we finish, the rest of the family has usually arrived at the house with their own kids, and we all open presents together. One child goes to pick out a present for someone else, and then that person picks out a present for someone else once they've opened theirs. It extends the gift unwrapping, makes it less chaotic, and lets everyone feel like they're being focused on, one at a time.

My family also makes it a point to go caroling whenever we can, especially at rest homes and the like, on the days leading up to Christmas and on Christmas day itself, sometimes.

So, what are some of your favorite traditions, or even traditions you'd like to start? I think we could all get some good ideas from each other.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

There are two traditions that I really charrish. Every year on Christmas Eve, the entire family drives downtown and we look at the lights on Parliament Hill (which are always amazing) and the light across the Ottawa River and it's so beautiful. The other is when we decorate the tree, we always have a christmas album playing. We usually change the album every year but we always include A Charlie Brown Christmas by Vince Guaraldi.

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When I was younger, my mom used to hide a pickle ornament in the house and the first person (of us three children) to find it won a prize. It was sort of moot considering all of us would end up getting something, but it was fun.

Every year, each of the five people in my house has the option of opening one gift on Christmas Eve.

We put up the tree on the weekend closest to December 8 due to that being the real start of the Christmas season in my parents' eyes.

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

We used to go to my Grandparent's house and spend Christmas Eve with the whole family. We used to go snowmobiling, and snow fights, play music, eat a fantastic dinner and opened tons of gifts. I wish they were still alive. Christmas has lost a little of its enjoyment since they passed away.

Now, my sister and her husband come to Emo and spend Christmas at home. I too go home after exams for the term. We also go and visit friends we don't see very often during the few days after.

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My family has a couple traditions I enjoy every year.

The first being the Christmas tree. Our family always gets together the day after Thanksgiving and puts it up. It's one of the few times we all work together peacefully. Normally the older family members will gather in the family room and work together to build the tree. Then come night time the younger ones will come in and decorate it with ornaments. Then we all just relax, enjoy the tree, and catch up.

A minor one my father started about 7-8 years ago was going to Balboa Park down here in San Diego on Christmas Eve to visit the Nativity Scene and look at the Christmas decorations in the park. After spending a few hours there everyone packs into the car with some hot cocoa and snacks, we turn on some Christmas music, and take a drive through Jingle Bell Hill (otherwise known as Pepper Drive in El Cajon) to enjoy the Christmas display the neighborhood has put up. Despite being packed in a car it can be enjoyable since some of the homeowners really get into it and make it enjoyable for those who go by. If I remember right one year a house had a guy in a Santa suit going up to each car to give out snacks to people..

The one I enjoy the most has to be Christmas Day. Everyone wakes up in their own time and the whole family gathers to munch on snacks like donuts or fruit while drinking hot cocoa. Then we enjoy breakfast together and open up presents. Sometimes neighbors will come over to join us. Then each of us will go around passing out stockings full of goodies. After that those of us who cook spend time together to start on Christmas Dinner. I really like cooking and being able to cook with my father is very enjoyable on Christmas.

I enjoy the parties we have every year as well. Spending time with my grandfather use to be a tradition but with his health as bad as it is now it cannot always happen. Which is dissapointing because he enjoys Christmas and spending it with his children/grandchildren.

I was speaking idiomatically.

One that's quickly catching on, that the whole family loves, is helping my Grandma set up her Christmas Village. She has something like 100 little ceramic houses from the Charles Dicken's collection, that she sets up all over her living room, along with treese, cotton for snow, and little ceramic people. It's really quite a project, and now that my grandparents are getting old, they enlist our help to put set it up. The houses have been around since before i can remember, and i truley feel like christmas is coming when i see them.

A tradition for my family is to buy a tree on Fourth Advent. We usually decorate it the next day, giving it time to thaw out.

On Christmas Eve, we spend time with either sets of my family. My grandma, Aunt and Uncle on my mom's side, or my Grandma, Grandpa, and Uncle on my dad's side. We would then see the other side of the family on Christmas day. This is the first year we will have to break the chain, because my aunt and uncle from The Netherlands are flying out to spend christmas with us, and they want to go to my grandparent's Christmas Eve service, and my family has to be at our's, as my mom's the choir director, and my dad, my sister, and I are all in the choir. I'm also playing music for some of the service. So we're double stepping the tradition this year, and seeing my mom's side of the family (who go to the same church as us anyways) on Christmas Eve two years in a row.

Also, a tradition is playing A Charlie Brown Christmas by Vince Guaraldi repeatedly on our CD player. Great album that one.

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

At 6pm on xmas eve we we all gather to my grandfather's house and shoot the shot guns we use for moose hunting in the air. We shoot each gun once and then we will shoot each one twice on new years.

How ya doing, buddy?

On Christmas morning, my family usually gets together to cook a large meal that lasts for that entire day. We don't open the gifts until very late in the afternoon, and I remember how frustrated I was as a child because of that.

What, you don't want my bikini-clad body?

My family often won't put up a tree or ornaments until Christmas eve, but once we do we hang Salvation Army cards on it. It's tradition to not walk past a Salvation Army kettle without putting your pocket change in, then the greeter (where I lived, anyway) would give you a small paper card with a verse of Scripture on it. Anyway, come Christmas Eve, we'd hang the cards we'd collected on the tree instead of buying ornaments every year since they tended to be destroyed or lost. We'd also put interesting things we'd gotten that year on it, like squished pennies or pretty stamps, airplane tickets, movie tickets, concert tickets ... that sort of thing.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

Originally Posted by Rydia

On Christmas morning, my family usually gets together to cook a large meal that lasts for that entire day. We don't open the gifts until very late in the afternoon, and I remember how frustrated I was as a child because of that.

We do the same thing, kinda. We'd get our stocking gifts first thing, then we'd have brunch and talk (for like 4 hours) then at about 2pm we'd get to open 2 gifts and every hour, we'd open 2 more. We were never done until about 7pm, then we'd have dinner. It was such a pain until I was about 12 and I began to enjoy the family time.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

My family usually ends up at a Simbang Gabi mass, which is a Philippine Christmas custom. We also usually attend a mass on Christmas Eve. We get home by midnight, and then open up gifts then too! Then on Christmas Day we usually go to a family friend's Christmas party.

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

Despite the fact that majority of my family have been "converted" to some sort of denominational Christian Church, Christmas has never really play a big part in my immediate family. In a way I am thankful for that, actually. I think both of my parent think Christmas is really too materialistic, I tended to agree. My sister is probably the only one that take the Christmas seriously. Although personally, I think the most important thing is that the "togetherness" of the family being together, in my opinion, is perhaps the greatest gift of all. Unfortunately, my mother do work through it, postal worker and all. After coming to the United States, the family have been rather fractured. I could talk about Chinese holidays, but who cares, eh? ♪

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

For as long as I can remember, every Christmas Eve we have gone to my Grandparent's house, sit around their fireplace and have some nice family time. Sometimes other branches of the family would be there, sometimes not. It's toned down a little in recent years. We also put up their tree every year and decorate it.

Likewise, Christmas day has always consisted of the entire family gathering at either my Grandparent's house or Uncle's house for an early afternoon Christmas Dinner, and a gift exchange after. The kids would go goof off in the basement while the adults stayed upstairs.

Lately, mostly do to the stress of getting ready to leave on Christmas morning, we've started opening our presents in the evening after getting back. I don't think I would have stood for it when I was little, but I like it better that way now.

We also do vast amounts of Christmas baking each year, which we give to iy and friends. My mom pretty much gave it up last year, but my sister picked it right up, and I have to say I've never seen the kitchen so busy or messy for a full week as I did then.

I was speaking idiomatically.

My favorite tradition is my families progressive dinner, we do every Christmas Day. It works with the entire family going to each members house to check out there decorations, open that families presents, and then we eat a course of the Christmas dinner. It's always a lot of fun and it's a nice way to extend the opening of presents.

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We usually have a big Christmas meal on Christmas Eve along with the opening of one gift.

Christmas morning is, of course, the opening of the rest of the gifts, and usually a lot of food is made to last the rest of the day.



Although the first things I mentioned still occur, the Christmas day meals don't really happen anymore. It's usually leftovers from the previous night reheated and served.

FELIPE NO

The only Xmas tradition that we have is going across the road to visit family. This normally happens around 10am, after the opening of our presents. We stay there until about 3 in the afternoon, and probably come back a little drunk.

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Let's see...


Christmas Eve is my birthday... which is also a day I would love to do nothing more than sleep the entire day away... Unfortunately that is an impossibility.


BLAST!!! Damn shopping.....


Starting from the morning of the 24th at about 8 AM roughly, I make my rounds to various stores shopping for last minute gifts. I know it sounds ridiculous but for the last few years, I've been paid from my employer on the 23th... making it difficult to actually do any shopping eariler. Up to about 2 PM on the 24th is when I am roughly done. By the time I do return however, I enter my little stelth mode I always enter in hopes that I won't get bombarded by my family with the whole birthday bit. In all honestly I jyst want to relax... but unfortunately I have to wrap these gifts.


About an hour later, after nearly committing suicide by way of scotch tape and papercuts of doom... I'm pretty much ready to pass out... but wait.... dinner.


Who gets to prep the dinner on the 24th? That would be me. Customary tradition is that one's birthday, they prep the meal of their choice. Or should I say since it is Christmas Eve... it's ham.


After the dinner which is roughly around 5-6 PM, I get a bit of a breather and watch TV. What's on TV I wonder.....?


Christmas shows of course! Every year I end up watching christmas shows with the family.


To sum things up further, we celebrate the holiday Christmas at 11:30 PM on the 24th. Thus why things are hectic and why I am so very tired.




I need to go on a holiday...

Jam it back in, in the dark.

Originally Posted by nazpyro

My family usually ends a Simbang Gabi mass, which is a Philippine Christmas custom. We also usually attend a mass on Christmas Eve. We get home by midnight, and then open up gifts then too! Then on Christmas Day we usually go to a family friend's Christmas party.

I used to do that when I was a kid. The "simbang gabi" part.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

Most recently, my family heads out to my uncle's house for Christmas Eve dinner. The festivities usually have turkey, casserole, and a wide variety of edibles. Since there are close to twenty to thirty people visiting, the food is made in large quantities.

Near the end of the evening, everybody gathers in the living room. Each person opens one present, usually coming from my aunt or uncle, and converses the night away.

Meanwhile, my stepdad silently heads outside in the middle of the conversations, and dons a Santa Claus outfit. He rings reindeer bells right in front of the door so the younger relatives can hear him, and my stepdad enters the door with a sack of gifts addressed to all of the children present at the dinner. Granted, my stepdad is far from burly, but the children are so excited to see him with all of the presents that they couldn't be more overwhelmed with joy. All of the older relatives play along, and everybody shortly heads out once "Santa" does.

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.