What's your Christmas traditions?

Hey Rogues, what is your family traditions on Christmas Eve and Christmas? Everyone has something they love to do, dred to do, want to do, forget to do, plan to do etc. Let us in on what goes on at your place.

I'll be working all this week, but I will drive out to my parents house on Christmas Eve to spend a few hours with them before reporting for duty. Dad will be parked in the recliner supervising Mom who will be getting ready for the festivities on Christmas Day. She'll be cooking and baking all day and well into the night, with the help of the grand-daughters. We'll exchange a few gifts (to make the girls happy) and then I'll go on to work.

I get off at 0430, so I'll get to bed and take a nap until 9 or so. Then I'll get up to head over to Mom and Dad's. Later Christmas morning, the extended family arrives enmasse. One wing will drive in from south central Louisiana (the Cajun Heartland) while another wing drives in from the New Orleans area, along with a detachment from Alabama . The local area family members will already be there helping with the last minute details. After socializing and catching up a bit, everyone will settle down for the feast. By mid-afternoon, the party breaks up and the family heads back to their respective parts of the state to start again with friends and family who doesn't make the trek to Baton Rouge. I'll leave for work around 1600, and report in for 1630, and will be on duty until 0430. Big fun for all.

Well, how about it, what do y'all do?

 

As a kid, we went to Ant (yup) Patty's. Opened one gift and did kid things. I personally stopped caring about Christmas at about age 11. This gave my parents much relief and even more so at about 13 when I decided that the whole gift thing was ridiculous. I have kiddos now, so I put on the farce for them. One knows about Santa, one is on the edge, and the other is 5. So we get up around 6. Do gifts here, my parents, wife's parents, come over we do that. Usually I spend the afternoon burning trash and we go to dinner at who ever has pulled the short straw for the year. This year, being that I am salaried and all, I get to go to work at 3am on the 26th so I will opt out of all celebrations lasting past 5pm and do what I feel I was meant to do on the 25th of December....eat ice cream and go to bed.

 

christmas eve walk about, dad and a mate, we pub crawl and take in the atmosphere thro many pubs, usually from 1.00pm until when? late...thro the city of st albans in and out of drinkers..great to see all the people have a real feel good factor, xmas eve, wife wraps prezzies, I watch..lol. turkey in the oven to slow cook overnight, up early to take turkey out of oven. music on, xmas songs of course, and then start to prepare the food for dinner. wait for anyone to get up, like it seems forever! ha! ha! enjoy a quick xmas tipple, and eventually one by one they surface, great to see the surprise in the faces when unwrapping their prezzies...the day is long and by the time evening arrives I'm usually worn out, I have to collect my grandson's from clacton on boxing day, and that! I leave around 5.0am so as to get there and back in good time, hope the snow does'nt cause havoc, I like to watch the horse racing in the afternoon, and we have all families around and play games. drink, eat, drink, eat,..it is one big feast, hope you all enjoy your day..

 

For me, It all starts around 6pm Christmas Eve. The family gathers at my grandparents home for dinner. Nothing special to eat, but an assortment of plenty of goodies. By 9pm, we are beginning to get ready to open presents. There are about 30 (29 this year) of us, so every year each person only gets one name. Sit to read the appropriate parts of the bible, before exchanging our gifts, working in order of youngest (couple months) to oldest (92). Then we all go home, to spend Christmas day with our immediate family. We used to all stay for Christmas day, but as the family grew and after a couple years of present opening marathons it was taking too long to open gifts with everyone there.

 

We usually go over to my parents house for posole and tamales for Christmas Eve dinner. After dinner, we usually open the presents from mom and dad. My brother and his family are there, as well as the grandparents, so we open up our gifts from each other there and then. After the family getogether, my wife and I go to "Old Town" Albuquerque usually late at night to walk around and see the thousands of luminarias. One Christmas morning, Kristen and I open our gifts from each other, then later on that day we eat turkey with my family and later have lasagna with her family.

 

For me, my folks just put up all the lights in the house. We didn't have a Christmas tree, but the moment we managed to get one of those plastic trees, I would say I got too old to put the tree up anymore. When we go to the Philippines for Christmas, let's just say that my family gives away a lot of stuff to the kids there and thet're happy to see us. These days, we just throw a small christmas party.

 

well, we usually unwrap presents at Christmas Eve morning, but being my parents have to work, its now Christmas day night. My sister is coming up too. then we have a nice little dinner. Not many plans, but it works

 

I am cooking up a prime rib for my parents and we're going to play Beatles Rock Band and maybe watch movies. They haven't seen their new grandkitty Prowl since she was a tiny kitten. However I have no real presents to open up which is fine because I raided the C & E Gun Show again. I I bought myself a carbine along with a commemorative US ARMY Smith and Wesson knife and a S&W SWAT tactical knife for my purse. Oh yea, I sent off the Hickory Farms to my brother and sister in law and a Steinmart gift card for Mom and Dad. There's not much going on at my place for Christmas however you all are invited for eating. And if anyone takes my bowl of string bean casserole, there WILL be heck to pay..*laughs*

 

The one time a year the kids remember their Swedish heritage for sure is Christmas Eve as they always been allowed to open 1 gift because the Swedes celebrate Christmas Eve rather than Christmas Day like we do. The kids and my sister come over to our house and stay the night Christmas Eve, food, drinks, games, music and family stuff. Christmas morning there is a big breakfast with traditional food, Swedish pancajes, vetabra, peppacocka (sp) and weisswurst ( but I have no idea why that sauage is a tradition because as far as I know none of us have even beeb to Bavaria. Now we have to wake the kids up around 10 o'clock to open presents, before the bastards never let us sleep in past 5 am. The wife makes a big turkey dinner and more relatives/friends come over for dinner. Then my favorite day, Boxing Day, left overs and nothing to do.

Merry Christmas all.

KTK

 

This year has been remarkably calm and organized - which we are trying to analyze so we can turn it into a tradition! Usually we have sent off gifts to my mother-in-law and siblings and then exchanged gift lists with our kids (young adults actually). I will have spent a couple of weeks sending out to friends and family around the world about 150 plus Christmas cards, some with hard copies of the Christmas letter we emailed to others (this year 13 pages with photos!). Yes, 13 pages - as many of you know it was a very full and life-changing year for us. We`ve done long letters with photos for several years and most like them and apparently look forward to receiving.

My husband and I will do a certain amount of planning and shopping up until the 23rd, then Christmas Eve morning we get up very early and go out for breakfast. Following that, we dash off to get all the last minute gifts and stocking stuffers. Some years we split up with the kids (which we did this year) and finish shopping with them if there is something we want to get at the last for each other. We also stop and get presents for the dog and cat, which we hide in the garage until Christmas morning as the dog is nuts about Christmas and wants her Santa sacks of toys. We have a light supper always includes sausage rolls and I usually finish wrapping gifts late into the night while watching White Christmas or Holiday Inn. This year done early and my husband and I ended up watching Sherlock Holmes as I`d seen all the classic holiday films a couple of times each in the past weeks.

Our son planned to wake us early (6 am) - but we all slept in until 7:30. All the lights on the house and tree get turned on and then we start with giving the animals their presents, while we prepare coffee or tea, then our son distributes us our stockings. When they were young they had to have a snack before getting into the gifts so they wouldn`t fill up on the chocolate in their stockings. Then we open our gifts with our son wearing the Santa Hat - each having a gift and taking turns opening so all can see. Then its tidy up, thank each other with hugs, then brunch - followed by my husband and I preparing the turkey and stuffing - sage and onion for one end, and fruit stuffing for the other. In the afternoon we snack on my mother-in-laws soft gingersnaps and my whipped shortbread (only make for Christmas). Its about food and time together. Even when our son was living on his own he came over Christmas Eve to stay overnight so we would have Christmas morning as we always do.

 

we do a very German non-traditional which starts the first week of December with putting up the lights on the outsdie of the home and by no later than the second week a fresh cut everygreen tree usually a noble fir type that is layered, the Mrs. decorates the tree in silver and gold with very old familie owned German ornaments and candles sometimes tinsel sometimes not. Tree is then turned on of course about 4pm till night night time. December 6th of course is St. Nicholaus Tag which we celebrate with the 4 grandchildren and of course they get off on little wooden toys and many nuts, oranges/bannans and small candies, my youngest - grandson is not too sure about this and rather displaces the nativity set under the Christmas tree.........of course baby Jesus needs to be with the animals forget the audlts. after the 6th the Mrs. takes 3 days off with her girls to do the baking and the house smells unbeleiveable as we then get ready to pass out and "trade" goodies with a dozen different neighbors, Musik of course is a definite during the eve's just to calm us down after a rough days work December being a real trial understandably for many on the planet for whatever reasons. the 23 rd comes with anticipation as we celebrate Christmas on the eve the 24th with what Familie is in the area and thankfully we were home to celebrate, the 25th is generally quiet with the two of us alone to regroup and today since the fir is drying out considerably it must be taken down and then I shred it and cut boughs for the birds in the back yard.

let it snow !

 

I´m sure that Erich´s Christmas tree is fantastic and til you get his pic, here´s mine.

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Biak it is so bone dry the wife is taking all the ornamentation down right now sadly, think though she did take a pic two weeks ago saved so will have to hunt through her camera pics of all the fun.

Ulrich great tree ............

 

Thanks Erich! Hope you had a good Christmas?!

 

always Ulrich even if it is just the two of us sitting and listening to German Christmas musik, we are easily content we have each other and that is what counts

 

that is a fact even with the Mrs. removing the ornaments right now asap the tree still smells wonderful. we are blessed living in a land of evergreens Biak I am happy to say, one of the real reasons I luv where I am at, 20 miles up in the snow via a 4x4 truck cut the sucker down and bring her home cut off 2 inchs off the bottom and soak her in a 5 gal bucket for two days and presto time to put up .