Christmas Traditions

I have been trying to make Christmas special here or at least have that something that my family remembers doing at our house every Christmas.

So far we watch Christmas Vacation when we set up the tree and the hubby springs for a seafood dinner for us instead of the traditional turkey / ham meal.

I'm curious what does everybody else do around this time of year? What are your old and new traditions.

Christmas is one of my favorite times of the year, I love the whole festive thing.  I have been the tree decorator for ever, probably a little selfish about it and not insisted everyone help because they don't show much interest and I just love it inside and out.  Probably should have not been so posessive  .  Our celebration is pretty simple, family, food, wine (or special bevvies), merriment, games and activities of choice.  In NZ it is a summer experience of course and that means t-shirts, shorts, togs and thongs (on the feet   ), maybe a trip to the sea for a dip, big pohutukawa trees in blossom are the NZ Christmas tree, flowering at this time of year.  This is our sixth winter Christmas and I love it.  Loved it there too.  We'd be having our meal underneath the tree in the middle of the driveway, laying about in one layer of clothing with drinks in hand and food cooking on the bbq!  Always make the kids wait for everyone to arrive before opening presents  -  now they are teenagers it is not that hard.  We wait for them to wake up   

One year we made a treasure hunt, that kept everyone pretty busy all day and traveling all over the 10 acre farm  -  presents were in all nooks and crannies, including one up a tree in the middle of a swamp!  That was a lot of fun, got my Mum on video climbing that tree.  wicked wicked daughter I am.      Kids love that.  We have done our meals differently every year  -  not an especially traditional family that way.  We've had turkeys, hams, steaks on a bbq, roast beef in a camp oven, sushi (where you get to make your own with a glass of gin in one hand) . . . you name it we've done it.  Always family and presents and tree.  And big focus on food.  And food.  Did I say food too many times?  Always a nice desert(s).

just read this to my husband who nearly had apoplexy about my comment re being the only one to decorate the tree.  I lied.  He did help and did the tree a few times.  eating crow.  picking feathers out of teeth   .  And, he can count.  This is sixth Christmas, not fourth!  I can't count.  So I have changed that.
[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

We're kinda boring. My kids don't believe in Santa, I don't do elf on a shelf, and at some point, someone has to leave to do chores.

There are presents and a tree and food. That part is consistent. Oh, and I will probably grouch at someone at some point and threaten to return presents. That's pretty much a given.

I go for a road trip on my quad and cut down a real tree.
I make irish cream, which is always drank christmas morning. usually without coffee.
The horses get christmas lights in their stalls downstairs. I'm not sure why this year because we only have a new Pony of America we just recently brought home randomly coming in at night.

Ours has changed to the "I'll be Home for Christmas" as all the children except one have families of their own. One will not be home as she is going to university in Halifax. We have the typical turkey dinner with one change this season in that the turkey came from our farm. I use to cook regularly, but now only do kitchen duty for Christmas, Thanksgiving and Easter. I usually do the turkey. This year Oma and I will be by ourselves on Christmas day and I promised her I would make Sue's Caramel French Toast again. The children plus are coming Boxing Day. The day starts with Christmas stockings. There will be cheese, chocolates, crackers and homemade wine. There will be a Bible reading and some indoor or outdoor games depending on the weather.

We'll go to church Christmas Eve and then come home to a soup or stew or chowder. Something premade and easy to heat up. This year we're going to have roast beef and Yorkshire pudding for Christmas dinner.

We usually get a winter scene puzzle and lay it out for people to work on over the holidays.

I grew up with a mother that loved Christmas.  Full of traditions.  Big get together Christmas Eve where everyone was welcome.  House usually had 20+ people in it.  Kind of a pot luck feel to it, but mom made everything.  After eating we would play 'stupid games' (what we called them as we got older).  My mother usually had one group game that we ALL  had to play.  I have to say it usually was very fun and everyone was always very good about it.  Then there would be games set up all over the house and people could choose where they went.  I usually was at the card table.
After everyone left, when we were kids we were aloud to open one present late on Christmas Eve night.  It was always new pjs to sleep in.
Dad used to take us to church one Christmas Eve when I was little but that stopped. Not sure why.

Then Christmas morning it was stockings opened at the breakfast table, quick animal chores and then the big stuff. Christmas dinner was always just for family.

It all really changed for me going south.  Australia was very different and I spent the first 2 years pouting a bit.  Then I got into the swing of lazy Christmas day with a BIG seafood feed on the BBQ and far to much grog.  Having no kids the Christmas frenzy just isn't as important to me anymore.  I have to say now it is just another day and hubby usually has to work anyways.  An excuse to have some yummy turkey and I do enjoy that.  I suppose the only real tradition I uphold now is I make mom's shortbread every year.  It is nice to think of her as I make it and remember sitting with her when I was a kid and she made it at Christmas time.

I still have some mixed feeling about this time of year now.  It is tough to lose someone close to a holiday as it always has that attached to it.

I enjoy hearing what everyone else does and to what extremes they go to (or not!) to make it festive.

So I do love all the reply's. Coop you really got me thinking about past and family. I have a little story of me and my mom and my dog. Note its mostly about my dog.

So years ago when I lived up north with my mom. She got me a Rottweiler a great big german rotti. That we renamed Tequila or To Kill yah ( for those questionable characters). Anyways Teq was a best friend, a companion he went everywhere with me except school. And when I got my license he came with me, if I couldn't take him I would usually come home from either school or work and we would go rollerblading or a walk for 15km a night. He really was my 1st baby. I lived and breathed for my dog and I think he did the same for me. Anyways his downfall was he had a terrible sweet tooth and I mean terrible.

My mom and I had moved houses one year and that Christmas we decided that we would put up boughs(sp) around the window and front door lace it with lights and candy canes (the little ones) otherwise we would have gone broke, lol. Well one day home from school I looked and it seemed different, looked different. Huh couldn't quite figure it out, oh well. Next day same thing, day after same thing. Pretty soon a week has gone by and I look at my handy work and its naked there's no candy canes from about 3.5ft and down. WTH, mom what happened to all the candy canes? Don't know hun, your girlfriends are probably grabbing 1 or 2 when they leave. So I get looking around for clues. Low and behold he had stashed the evidence under his big cedar pillow.

About a day later we actually busted him taking one from higher up. That same year it was super cold and with the north winds it just cut right threw you so in the best concerns we would bring in the big baby for about half the night on the super cold ones. One of those nights I was grabbing a orange in the kitchen when I dropped it and it rolled away. Before I could pick it up he had it. My dog had a mandarin orange in his mouth, peeled it whole, spit the peel out and ate the orange   Every year after that you couldn't have an orange without out sharing   

So in short I was thinking next year I will start putting up the boughs around the windows and door. This time though I know it will be my midgets that steal me blind of candy canes  

We never had much family traditions when I was a kid, usually we would get loaded up with all our presents in mom's little car and head off to Grandma's house at 8 pm Christmas eve, we would arrive very early Christmas morning and surprise her. After I was 6 we stopped going to grandmas and would go to my Step Father's Christmas eve, him and mom would go out and we would sneak peaks at our presents. Then act surprised Christmas morning.   
The traditions started with me when I met my hubby, his family had the huge Christmas eve party of the town, everyone would come out and crowd into their tiny little house, and it was the first time I saw what a big family get together was all about. As we all had children the big party started to dwindle down and now we just have my In laws and my hubby's sisters family there. It is not as enjoyable but they still carry on some of their traditions. We have our big family meal Christmas eve, the kids wait till Santa shows up (Yes Santa comes to the house and gives them each a present, and even my 15 year old nephew has to sit on his lap), the kids get a little toy to play with from Santa, and then just before bed they get to open one present from Grandma, always PJ's. We wake up Christmas morning, open gifts, have our family breakfast of back bacon, eggs, tatter tots, and champagne with orange juice.

Then we pack up all the gifts, drive 2 hours home, open our gifts here and then do chores that are waiting for us. It always makes for a tired and grouchy Christmas day....

I do enjoy the family time, but some day soon I hope to come home after Christmas eve supper so we can wake up and enjoy our kids opening presents at our house, and have a relaxing day.

Boxing day is or was always my family's day, we would go to my mom's place and she would host her Christmas meal. It was always tradition to go to her place Christmas night, so we could get up early and do Boxing day shopping, then have supper with her and my brothers then come home and rest. But with my one brother divorced now and the other living way up north, we have to schedule our family Christmas around when brother one can get his kids and brother two can get enough time off in a row to come home for a bit.

I guess as we get older and our families change, it is time to start our own traditions...Maybe someday I will host Christmas here so we don't have to travel, I could have my family and hubby's family all here for Christmas eve then enjoy Christmas day for ourselves.

Ok, we have a plan for this year. We are going to bring three builders horses in and buy a sheet of ply (smooth if poss), put up a pingpong net and have tournaments there. And, I will find a puzzle to put on a table in a safe quiet spot. And maybe we'll finally learn bridge or play texas holdem's. neighbor has a roulette wheel too. My husband will be a zombie, having finished a run of 12 hr nights so he'll have a short sleep when he gets home and when he wakes up we'll do presents and have ping pong tournaments. think we'll have a break around 3 or 4pm and have our meal - nice smoked ham from costco, home grown potatoes and greens of some kind followed by rum eggnog (might start that earlier, I need something to get my ping pong game on) with brandy apricot cheesecake. yup. that's looking like a goer. as it looks right now   .

Christmas for my family was always special. We usually went to my mom's moms Christmas Eve and ate junk food and yummy Ukrainian food and snacks. Then we would go home and we would beg and plead and got to open one small gift, which like coop was usually new Pj's to sleep in that night.
Christmas morning was a frenzy of finding out what Santa left in our stockings and what he brought for us under the tree. We then would finish opening gifts and then we played our scratch tickets that dad bought for us while listening to Boney M and Rolf Harris (6 White Boomers). We usually laid low for a while til the entire extended family would come for supper. We usually had 25-30 family members together. It was awesome. We usually had turkey and all the fixins. We played cards and dice and other silly family games.
Now it's a tad different - get up do chores and relax. Play with dogs etc. I miss the old traditions. The only cool part now is that I usually get to eat one of the turkey's I raised each year now

My Mom Loved the Holidays and Christmas was her Favourite The house was always decorated to the max and food and Baking went on for weeks. Since her passing Christmas really is Just Christmas . We do the Meal and the Gifts and the tree (which I dont even like LOL ) But That is Only Because Darwin Loves Christmas. This Year we have a Big Family Christmas I am Making 3 Turkeys and Dressing and the rest of the family will bring the rest it is a Big Family I married into so there will be about 75 or more people there counting all the Kids and the Nieces and Nephews ( have to Love a Native Christmas) Oh well it is only 1 day so I can put on a smile for that day
I do enjoy reading evryones Going ons for the Holiday. and want to wish everyone a
MERRY CHRISTMAS

appway wrote:My Mom Loved the Holidays and Christmas was her Favourite The house was always decorated to the max and food and Baking went on for weeks. Since her passing Christmas really is Just Christmas . We do the Meal and the Gifts and the tree (which I dont even like  LOL ) But That is Only Because Darwin Loves Christmas. This Year we have a Big Family Christmas  I am Making 3 Turkeys  and Dressing and the rest of the family will bring the rest it is a Big Family I married into so there will be about 75 or more people there counting all the Kids and the Nieces and Nephews ( have to Love a Native Christmas)   Oh well it is only 1 day so I can put on a smile for that day
I do enjoy reading evryones Going ons for the Holiday.  and want to wish everyone a
MERRY CHRISTMAS

Oh my goodness, that is a big gathering!  Three turkeys.  I wanna come to your house!  I think I might have worked out what your avatar is Appway.  Is it a hat with a feather?  I suspect it is a special kind of hat?  It is lovely colors.  I would really like to know.  Please share?
And Merry Christmas to you too.

not a hat it is a smudge fan one of them that we make here are a couple others that we have made
[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

wow. they are beautiful. Glad I know now. I just googled what a smudge fan was and nothing on wikipedia but plenty of pictures and other links. lovely.

Appway, can you pm me about your smudge fans. My sister made me a very primitive one, that I will always have, but yours are lovely! I had a handful of lovely turkey feathers from our last place, but I think I left them their. Too bad. We would have eagle feathers everywhere too, because of the balds and goldens that came around, but I always left them where they were. Anyways, back on topic!!

Magdelan, you triggered a Mom memory for me! She would always set up a table every year, sort of off in a corner, with a very complex puzzle and she would work on it over the season. People were invited to contribute if they liked. Often company would stop and add a piece or two, very nice tradition to start at you place for sure!

Thanks for the Memory Coops Mom did the Puzzle thing also LOL I remember how the Kids would laugh and Giggle when they found a piece and Mom would tell them she had been looking for that piece forever They never did figure out that she pushed it in front of them Oh well alot of good Memories . And I agree that would be a good Tradition for someone to start as it will be a memory forever
PS sending you a PM Coops

Thanks Coopslave. Must be a thing with Mum's/Mom's and puzzles. When she left NZ my Mum had a massive closet filled with puzzles - some of them would take up the whole table. Think she had at least one 5000 piece puzzle. jeepers, I'm quite satiated with a 500 piece job. As a kid I have fond memories of puzzles, on days I was home sick with a cold I'd do one. my favorites were always the round ones and she had a few of birds. I guess it is in our genes now   . She is banned from joining in puzzle doing for the most part, apart from this Christmas of course. She is so good at them that everyone else feels like the rug has been pulled out from under their feet - turn your back for a moment and a whole section has been done! What a rip off - I say this lovingly :-). But, this will be a Christmas puzzle and I have a few so we can put out as many as we want. I only have easy ones so she will have to take it easy on us. I recall Fowler saying he puts a puzzle out at Christmas too. I'm pretty certain he's a dude though, and no one's Mom. Heck, that sounds biased against dude-Mom's. So easy to be offensive these days. I have nothing against dude-Mom's. On the contrary. off topic totally now! how did I get myself tangled up there??

Appway you sound like you miss your beloved Mom. Wishing you the best over the Christmas period.

We do puzzles every year.

A few years ago I laid out some cash for a nice puzzle of a known name. Never been so disappointed. Pieces wouldn't stay together unless you stapled them to the table. Ended up throwing it in the wood stove as I didn't even want to give that piece of crap to anyone.

The next year I discovered Cobble Hill puzzles. Excellent quality and they even have varying levels of difficulty. They even have a line of family puzzles that have pieces of varying size so younger kids can put together the big pieces.

[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

That link may just have inspired a holiday puzzle at out house......

there are some pretty nice ones there :-). I like the train. will have to look more later, got to get tea ready for MI5 on netflix before my guy has to go to work :-).

Ohh, the train one looks hard!

My mother had all wood ones from her childhood - incredibly only with one or two pieces missing (which, trust me, adds to the difficulty). The images on the four or five best ones will be forever engraved in my memory! One of a painting of a team of four percherons in full gallop pulling a fire engine was particularly memorable...

With a compatible puzzle person it is a very nice way to spend an evening. Off to check that website.

Puzzles are part of the Christmas week's tradition here. I'm willing to spend some time puzzling, but my wife is a keen puzzler. Last year we put together a John Deere tractor puzzle from our local feed store.