Holiday TraditionsWe go to church and then my parents on Xmas Eve. Every year my mom and dad buy the kids P.j's. It is a tradition now and they all wear them home, even though the nephews are getting older now, (21,19,15), and my kids. They all put them on to go home in. We build a gingerbread house (you can buy kits) and smash it and eat it on New Year's Eve. The day after Christmas is what we call "Merry America Christmas." The kids wake up and go upstairs to find all the presents from America under the tree. I really like spreading out the gifts that way. I am from Greece and there Santa brings presents on New Year's Eve! But since he is a very busy man, he leaves the presents somewhere and then off to the next house  so as kids we had to look around and find the bag of
gifts. It was very exciting, so this year, I am planning to have ds look for the presents from Santa. I think it would be a great learning experience for him, you know, look under the bed, behind the cabinets, etc etc. I thought it would be nice to start a thread to share any special holiday traditions. Today we did one of my absolute favorite traditions. Each year a few days before Christmas, dh and I take the boys Christmas shopping for each other. We each take a kid and a car and head out to different stores. (Luckily there are 2 Toys R Us stores within 5 miles of our home). Each boy gets $50 to buy a gift (or gifts) for his brother. (Dh and I usually wind up calling each other from the stores at least 5 times throughout the process.) After they finish their shopping, we all meet up at a restaurant for dinner. After we get home from dinner, dh and and I each take a child into a separate room in the house for gift wrapping. Then the boys put the gifts under the tree. It is so wonderful to see them shop for each other. And they were vibrating with excitement when they put the gifts under the tree. It makes me so happy to see them getting a thrill out of giving as well as getting! I'd love to hear what special things others do around the holidays. we broke our tradition this year and managed to pick out a tree within 5 minutes of being there. Usually we each end up "loving" one specific tree and my sister goes "noooooo the tree doesn't like me!" because we all know trees have feelings! But this year we all hopped out, pointed at one tree and hopped back in. It was amazing. It's a cute tree too!We also have these absurdly creeepy animatronic santas, bear and angel that move and blink and look like they're going to come kill you. They were a gift from my grandmother who LOVED christmas and so we bring them out every year. lol. We also each get an orament in our stocking every year so that by the time we have our own families we have ornements for the tree! We just do a lot of family time. We sit and talk, laugh a bit--this year, we aren't doing pressies so, it will be mostly the meal on Christmas day--there are two nondenom churches here doing candlelight services--all music, which I love so, will probably go to both of those on Christmas Eve. It used to be a big hooplah back home--Christmas eve was an open house at my cousin's house and outlaws had a big shindig as well--so we traveled from one end of the state to the other on that night. I am kinda glad, in a way that we don't do that any more--although I do miss the traditions. Here, everyone seems to leave the state to go home--so, this year, we are spending time with the ones in the group home that have no family around during the holidays. It is a nice tradition to start up, I think--it may end up being our yearly tradition--spending time with those that have no one there with them. I am looking forward to it. Kristys this is the frist year we are trying a gift exchange between the kids ... hope it WORKS. The "men" went out and cut down a tree at a cut-your-own-tree farm. Of course the "ladies" stayed home, and lavished praise upon the choice of tree, etc. while decorating it! We are not big on traditions for the most part. Although T is doing her best to establish of a pre-holiday snit ... anticipating ANY change in her regularly scheduled program makes her into a ... an Ugh-bug! We go to the early church service, (4pm) for the pageant, then have a familydinner at home. The next morning we get up early for presents. On New Years eve, dh and I go to a friends house for their annual party. at midnight (all of our friends, or most, anyway are jugglers) we go out in the snow and juggle torches. Harriet Foxl, I hope your gift exchange with the kids works too! The first year it was hard for them to actually think of what the other person would want. C wanted to pick a helicopter for R because C himself liked helicopters and R wanted to pick something he liked himself for C. Now they can actually do a decent job, with some help, of picking out something the other one would like even if that thing isn't what they would get if picking for themselves. Daiseytex, My MIL is always buffet. For 40 people sit down is never an option LOL. I prefer sit down, and I am equipped at my house to do sit down for 20 comfortably. I have a thing for chargers and cloth napkins and funky napkin rings! However if it gets above 20 I have no choice to go the buffet route! We go to my parents' house for Christmas Eve where we all have tons of cookies/homemade candy/fudge/finger foods and so on and open family presents.Christmas morning is here at home for our gifts. Then back to my parents' for Christmas dinner w/ all the family. I have a question. Whose families have sit-down style and whose is more buffet style? As a kid, I never really thought anyone could actually have it all on one dining table, and still sit there and eat, nicely passing around 4 or 5 side dishes. Seriously, I thought that was just for tv. LOL YepperBepper, isn't it amazing how one tradition like P.j's can have such an effect on our kids. My boys were talking about their pajamas yesterday, what kind they will be ect. THey can't wait to open them.
Great post. We celebrate "Russian Christmas" on Christmas Eve, although it actually falls on Jan. 7. Non dairy..seven fishes...eldest man gives out honey for sweetness...garlic for strength...in age order, oldest to youngest. Usually about 25-30 folks at my parents home. It used to be at Babba's until she passed. I get ot make the sauerkraut and mushrooms this year!!! Then we head home around midnight to give the kids their Christmas PJ's. I began this tradition when my elder two were very young. My daughter who is 17 and son who is 15 ask every year, if I remembered their pajamas. DH can't believe how darn excited they get over pajamas. Charities...dd does soup kitchen in November and December and writes letters from Santa with other members of her Community Interact Club. We donate non perishables to two churches and also at two schools. We also participate in Birthright. DH and I always wrap on Christmas Eve after the kiddos go to bed. If our eyes are still open upon finishing...we go for the old "Christmas" roll in the hay. LOL. Usually for several days after Christmas...we have drop in visitors. Neighbors and friends. There is always food on the table and a bit of hot boilo for the brave adults. I am a Christmas junkie. I start planning in August. I adore this time of year. I loved it in our early years when we were first married and counting change to buy Christmas presents. I love it now...we aren't counting change but may have to if I stay "retired" much longer. Merry Christmas...Happy Hannukah...Happy Holidays....however you celebrate...ENJOY. HO. Ho. Ho. We have several traditions that have "crossed-over" from my parent's house to mine, but we have a few of just "ours" too... One happens on Christmas Eve. As the children find out the reality of "Santa", they are inducted into the "Order of the Elves," complete with a certificate and an elf hat with ears. They are sworn to secrecy, and then they are allowed to help shop on behalf of Santa, and to get up after everyone else is in bed and help wrap. I put on hot cocoa (Bailey's for me!), and we have a blast. Nothing is put under the tree until Christmas Eve, so anything received prior is retrieved from it's hiding place and it's all piled under. This year, I have three elves to help, but I've also stashed a few things to be put under the tree once they're all done so they have some surprises of their own from "Santa". The other tradition is one I share solely with my eldest daughter. When her father was alive, he and she would come in while I was cooking in the kitchen, and they'd drag me into dancing with them to the holiday music that would be playing. The first Thanksgiving after his death, she came into the kitchen with "Dance me, Mommy"...so we did. It's become our continued tradition ever since that at some point in time on Thanksgiving and Christmas Day, my eldest and I dance in the kitchen. There are other things I do with with my other children where they are all included, but just for that bit of time, it's just me and her. It's become something treasured for both of us. My tradition is read the hoilday store before the gifts.Not really a tradition, but we've watched Doctor who christmas special episode together last year and this year. It's the only thing except teletubbies Em can sit through-and it was 60 minutes this year! He watched it again this morning and has been stomping around the house for hours-I think he's imitating the cyber monsters But other than that, we don't have holiday traditions-we don't put up a tree together because Em is afraid of it, he's not interested in presents or santa...oh well. Maybe someday:) Nice to hear your kids are enjoying Christmas, and there are some lovely traditions you have. This year was the one year we broke tradition. Dh and I always wait til the last min. christmas eve night to wrap the presents. It started out as procrastination and turned into something we enjoy, put on the oldie christmas music, laughing and hanging out. I had to work 3rd shift this year, I wanted to complain and get pissy about it, but with the economy being what it is today, I'm just so happy to have a stable secure job, I quickly decided to be thankful I had a job to go to. We'll do it next year, when its my turn to have off. On anther note, we always do the pj exchange too. Funny--this year, kids got pj's and socks from our respite provider (she bought for all the kids..or her mom did, since her mom and I get along--I was a provider for her asd daughter, prior to the sister taking over). It's funny how you look back and see how you were when you were that age. I would have been disappointed over pajamas and socks--growing up in a family that used the "great depression" as an example to "make up" at Christmas, my thing was to find the biggest pressie under the tree. My kids were excited and bragging about their socks and pj's! I am glad they aren't like mom in that way. :) We also started a new tradition of taking someone in that has no where to go on Christmas. We had wanted to do this for years but couldn't find any of the churches that could direct us. Where I work, one of the guys' dad went away for Christmas, leaving him home. So, I went to pick him up at noon, and he stayed the day at my house, until 7 pm. We took "family" pictures of him in them. He enjoyed sitting at our "interesting conversation" dinner table with everyone and had 3 helpings of Christmas din din. This is gonna be a new tradition. I will continue to do this next year, even if we are blessed more in the ability to get presents...if we are, they will get them as well. It really was a nicer Christmas for us, vs. the pressies. It seems the pressies of the heart mean more. Maybe I truly am getting old..lol One tradition is a wrapped box of cereal under the tree,When my first two were little we couldn't afford to buy the expensive cereal for them, but every Christmas morning they would find a box of the cereal they had wanted under the tree,Usually something with Marshmallows and chocolate LOL. Now, with the little ones we can afford it but, I dont want them eating all that sugar so we kept the tradition up for them,they get there ONLY ON CHRISTMAS cereal,under the tree . One other Tradition we do is, the whole family contributes to Giant socks for Nanny and Gramps ,each family brings special little gifts for there socks on Christmas Eve at there house, we all add our gifts to there socks and they sit and open them on Christmas morning. Linda Wow! It is SO cool to read about everyone's holiday traditions! I'm so glad that everyone shared how they celebrate, it's so interesting to read about this stuff. Every year each person in my family (Mom, dad, brother, me) get socks. It's been this way for as long as I remember. It's also always the first gift we all seek out to open. We also do our Christmas stockings on Christmas morning...which is different from most folks around this area, who do "St. Nick" on December 5th (they open stockings that are left from him on that day, rather than Christmas.) And in our stockings are always lottery tickets! I'm a lottery ticket junkie, I don't buy them myself, but looooove to scratch them, so I love that an awful lot. We also have our food traditions...lasagna on Christmas eve, and ham with pineapple on Christmas day. I guess I could also add our Advent traditions. I keep our Christmas books and DVDs separate, and bring them out on December 1st. We read a Christmas book every night, and watch a dvd (or a Christmas special on youtube) when we feel like it. We also do a countdown calendar. The kids get a Lego set, but only a page of instructions a day, with the pieces they need to complete that step. I put it in Christmas paper lunch bags. It sure helps them get out of bed in the morning, and they see the line of bags getting shorter as we get closer to Christmas.
My kids always get a 12 pack of soda. I don't let them have much of it and it started out as caffeine free, but they still love it. [QUOTE=daisytex] Believe it or not, we have a sit-down dinner with table cloths, crystal, and china for Christmas dinner every year at my in-laws...for TWENTY NINE PEOPLE! They pull the big table on a diagonal into the edge of the dining room and put the kitchen table in there too. A long card table goes in the adjacent foyer and another long card table goes into the kitchen (for the 5 kids under the age of 9). My FIL loves to cook and serves home-made onion soup, prime rib, asparagus, glazed carrots, herbed mashed potatoes, dinner rolls, wine, iced tea, and coffee. Dessert is buffet style with everybody bringing something different. I serve our boys a really nice ham dinner on china every Christmas Eve, but so far we have not moved it into the formal dining room (they still spill everything). Probably next year. We do something similar to NorwayMom - with the daily holiday book. Our twist is that I wrap them all up and Dooder gets to open one up every day until Christmas Eve, when he gets to open the specially wrapped Night Before Christmas. |
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Which is great, because imitation is something we've been working on for a long time.