We have recently started one at my in-laws (big family!) Every year people make homemade ornaments for everyone. We've done this for three years now, and it is always special to hang those on the tree. We are all slowly spreading out across the country and starting our own families, and we know that our Christmases all together are limited (in fact, one brother has already "dropped off"). But by having everyone's ornaments on our tree, we remember those Christmases we did spend together. And it is so much fun to see what everyone has come up with (hand-painted glass balls, beaded snowflakes, little stained glasses, decorated nuts, etc.) Those who have kids often get them to help, which is fun too. I can't wait to see what other people say!

We always sing Christmas carols. Everyone has a sheet with words on it and we sing them all. The rules is that everyone has to sing, even the men. The kids love it because they know when we are done, then we can open the presents.

Something we did when our kids were little was to have them place a piece of straw ( cut up pieces of construction paper) in the manger for Baby Jesus every time they did something nice , kind, a chore, etc. w/o having to be asked. They start out slow but doesn't take a kids long to catch on. We put out our Christmas decorations out the week end after Thanksgiving but we do not put Baby Jesus in the manger until Christmas morning. The kids would always remember whose turn it was to put the baby in the manger that year.
We were a military family and moved a lot over the years. The worst was from CA to VA in November ! We were some very unhappy campers. Since we weren't near family and didn't know anyone in VA I was really searching for something special to do for Christmas. We all got dressed up and went out to a nice restaurant for Christmas Eve dinner. The kids were 11 and 8 at the time. It is a tradtion we still do every year. It is a time for just us even tho. we do live near family now. Christmas Day is when we join the extended family . When we are at the table with the entire family for Christmas dinner, we all hold hands and each person takes a moment to say what they are thankful for. J.

We started this a few years ago- the morning of Christmas Eve, we go out to brunch at a nice hotel buffet. Another one I want to start is to get a special Christmas blanket that only comes out in December. Each child takes turns sleeping with it all through the month. On Christmas Eve, mom & dad get to sleep with it.

Since our children are all grown with families and in-laws, instead of the traditional Christmas dinner, I have them all for breakfast on Christmas morning. We are fortunate that most of them and the grandkids spend the night with us on Christmas Eve so everyone is here already. I fix a huge breakfast with ham, sausage, bacon, homemade biscuits, eggs, gravy, and assorted jams and jellies. We all have a good time talking and eating, then they are free to have late lunch with in-laws or have it at their own home. I feel that children should establish some traditions for just their family. Besides that, then we are free to clean up the wrapping paper, ribbons and the tree comes down that evening.

My family is German, and we follow many of those traditions. We celebrate St. Nicholas Day on Dec 6, and open gifts to each other then. We always have oyster stew and put up the tree on Christmas Eve, and sing Christmas Carols and read the Christas story from the Bible. There are always gifts to open on Christmas from friends and other family members. We attend Christmas church services and have dinner with family and friends - both traditional and German dishes. The Dec. 25th Christmas is focused on Jesus birth, where it belongs. At our family dinner gathering every family makes an angel decoration or ornament, and every year the collection is displayed. The kids (and some adults!) go sledding behind the house and/or skating on the pond. Hot cocoa and cider and turkey sandwiches to warm up with! The Christmas tree stays up through Ephinany (the 12 days of Christmas - the days the Wisemen traveled to see the baby Jesus....)

We have several traditions that we keep. Mid December, my brother, sister, myself, and all of our spouses and kids go to my Dad's (he lives alone) and put up and decorate his tree. I make dinner while the kids decorate. Then we make hand and foot print reindeers for my dad to hang on his wall (trace each child's hands and one foot, use the hands as antlers and add a red nose on the heel of the foot print, have the kids decorate the rest of the face). This serves as a reminder of how much each of them grows from year to year. My dad really enjoys having all of us there.
We also visit the Manger (several times). We've been doing this since the 10 year old was born. The one we visit is at a funeral home and has life like people (imagine that!) and a ton of animals to feed. We usually make this the highlight of driving around looking at Christmas lights.
Oh, and I have one more, I usually stay up until 3:00am wrapping all of the kids stuff while dh sleeps (just as well, he's a terrible wrapper!!)

Ever since I was little (I'm 19 now), my uncle paid my sister and I to wrap presents for him on Christmas morning. He'd assemble us in a spare bedroom at my grandmother's with wrapping supplies, hide the gifts he got the 2 of us in the closet, and pay $1 for each gift we wrapped. Looking back, accepting payment doesn't exactly seem in sync with the spirit of Christmas. LOL :)

When my children were small 3 & 1 I started the tradition of letting them open 1 gift on Christmas eve. The gift was a new pair of PJ's for my son and nightie for my daughter and each of them new slippers. My kids love this. I now do the same for my grandchildren. Believe it or not even my son-in-law looks forward to this part of christmas.

Oh, how I love the Holidays! Every Christmas Eve we have an open house for 3 families in our community that don't have relatives near by. This year a fourth family has been added. We are all from very small families, in fact our children only have 1 cousin. These 4 families are in the same situation. So we decided to adopt each other as family. It's something we look forward to each year. After everyone has left I go to my favorite hiding spot and take out the new Christmas stuffed animals that I nestle into bed with our 3 children. Luckily they are heavy sleepers. Oh, by the way my children are a 28 yr. old son who is married, a 22 yr. old engaged daughter and a 16 yr. old daughter. This year I think I will need to send my son's to my daughter-in-law because they no longer are able to stay over on Christmas Eve. Someday soon maybe I can include GRANDCHILDREN! Merry Christmas!

Thanks to you all for the great ideas.
June

We're movie buffs so starting on Thanksgiving night, we watch a movie each night until Christmas although sometimes we're too tired to finish some nights! My kids are little and I started a tradition that mother did and that is to open up one present on Christmas Eve which is new pajamas to sleep in. Also, we work a Christmas jigsaw puzzle every year. We leave it lying out and do a little each day until it's done. And one thing that has become a tradition that even my hubby doesn't understand is, my sister and I crawl out of bed the day after Thanksgiving 'way before sunup to get to the mall. We scan the sales papers carefully for those opening times and giveaways and we have a plan of action. It's not actually shopping but a game to get what we need and get back home before everyone else is awake. Our record so far is two towns, 15 stores and home by 10 a.m.!

DD always leaves a Bag of Toys for Santa to take to children who need a little something extra. Its a great way for her learn that not everyone is as fortunate as her and also to make room for the new things arriving.

One of our many traditions we have is that the kids make edible ornaments and garlands to decorate an outdoor tree for the animals.

Both my husband's and my families live nearby. When my dd was small and eveyone wanted us to run here and there thoughout the holidays, I put my foot down. Yes, we spend Christmas driving all over the state so we can see each other, but Christmas Eve was for us. My husband made pizza for dinner (okay, so he's not much of a cook, but it's the one night of the year he gives it a shot). Then we'd go out and walk around the neighborhood looking at the lights and visiting older neighbors we'd know would be home alone. Once home, we'd settle down with hot chocolate and a book of Christmat stories--each of us would read one of our favorites.

Well, now DD is 20--grown up. She works at a restaurant and for the past few years, has offered to work Christmas Eve so the Moms who have small children can be off to enjoy the night with their families--guess we did something right. So we go there for dinner and I take platters of treats for the employees to enjoy (I know, sounds silly to take food to a restaurant, but they seem to appreciate it.)

On that same note, my DH cooks dinner on Christmas eve, as well. We usually have bacon-wrapped tenderloin and twice baked potatoes, with raspberry shortcake for dessert, (my favorite meal!!). He cooks and cleans from start to finish, while I set the table and decorate for the guests we sometimes have later in the evening. We often try to spend the evening skidooing or sliding before we send the kids off to bed (bonus...they are very tired and fall asleep very quickly). We live very far from our families, and really try to create a sense of tradition with our children.

UMMMMM, thinking of tenderloin...
Annie

My husband watches his favorite holiday movie "Die Hard" while wrapping all his presents. The first time our friend took him to see it in the movies, he went kicking and screaming (well, not literally) because he hated Bruce Willis. He loved the movie, and now we see almost everything Bruce is in (That stupid The Kid was not one we will see tho).

My Mom started taking us kids to a really wonderful store in MD called Valley View Farms every year to pick out a "special" ornament for the tree. She picked out the one for the Christmas before I ws born, but every year after, I picked one out. Each one is labeled with the kid's name and dated. When I got married, I had 20 ornaments that are very dear to me to hang on our tree. Even though DH and I are in NC now, and my sister is in Chicago, when we visit for Thanksgiving, we make a special point to to meet Mom and my brother (with his wife and kids) to go up to Valley View and pick out our special ornaments for the year.

I would like to start something that represents our Scottish and Irish background into a tradition for christmas. Any ideas???

One Christmas tradition from my childhood that I've continued with children and grandchildren is the sames as Leah's - new jammies for all on Christmas eve. And it wouldn't seem like Christmas in our family without a cardboard advent calendar, where a door is opened every day from December 1 - 24th. I usually buy these on sale after Christmas and send them out the week after Thanksgiving the next year. About two Sundays before Christmas, we go to a "cut your own" tree farm and spend a couple of hours searching for the Christmas tree that absolutely begs us to take it home. We take along a thermos of hot chocolate to drink and sing carols on the way home. For many years, my husband has brought me some red roses on Christmas eve. I pick some holly and mix it in with them and they look so beautiful. And we never go out on Christmas Eve - just make a delicious dinner (usually beef fondue) and watch Christmas videos and turn our tree lights on for the first time of the season.

On the other hand, I decided to discontinue some family traditions that DH and I had grown up with like having Santa decorate the tree after the kids were in bed on Christmas eve. It's a lot more fun for them to participate and definitely easier on Santa. We also stopped having a big sit-down Christmas dinner and instead have a casual brunch buffet with lots of make-ahead items.

I take my kids out to the Dollar stores and let them buy gifts for each other and my husband and myself. Then on Christmas Eve we have a nice dinner and then open up our gifts to each other. One year I got a coffee mug with Jerry Sienfeld on it. My husband got a football. It is lots of fun and my kids really put their thoughts into it. we only allow them 10 dollars each.

Here is a story we've been doing since we found it in a magazine 1987. I happened to find it on the net. It is titled "Christmas with the Right Family".

Here is a link that might be useful: Christmas with the Right Family

Every year on Christmas Eve after spending an evening with my husband's aunt and cousins we would take the kids out to a "Prime location" (One that we would know had lots of Christmas lights and decorations) That was really fun and we would drive real slow and comment on the decoration-which would include waving Santas and Mrs. Clauses' waving from people's living room windows or back then maybe even singing animated Christmas carolers in a person's yard,Or better year a Nativity scene with Christmas hymns playing!! There are still some places around here that decorate alot. There are two very small houses that always seems to try and out do each other, we love still to go by there!
~Lynn~

Such wonderful traditions! When our kids were young, we would take a Christmas Eve drive, with mugs of cocoa, and look at the Christmas lights and displays in the city. We'd always look for 'Rudolph's nose' in the sky (usually the red light on a radio tower), which was a sign that it was time to go home and tuck the kids in, because Santa was on his way!

Traditions have changed over the years as the kids became teens, and our familes have moved away. I miss the gatherings at my parents' house on Christmas night, but now we have them to our house. Our traditional Christmas food on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day is snacks ... and lots of them! Barbecue meatballs, ham sandwiches, crackers-sausage-cheese, cookies, bars, dips-and-chips ... we fill our plates many times!

I'll be 40 at Christmas time this year, but I still wake up with a magic feeling on Christmas morning! ;)

Pamela

Well, I guess it all starts with decorating the tree: My husband's family never did their tree until Christmas Eve -- but then I found out from his mom that that was because they usually didn't have money for a tree until then. We put our tree up about the middle of December. I put the lights on and then the kids put the ornaments on and then hubby puts on the tinsel. The first ornament that goes on the tree is one that my husband and I bought our first Christmas together. The kids each have their own ornaments to put on --either that they have made over the years from school or that we have bought to remind them of something that happened that year--a tiny book the year my first daughter learned to read, a southwestern ornament from when we lived in Colorado, etc.... They'll have a little start for their own trees when they have their own house and be able to take a few memories from our house with them.
Christmas Eve we have cheeses and crackers and pepperoni and a cheese ball for our meal. It makes it so much easier that having to prepare a meal on Christmas Eve, then another one Christmas Day.
The kids are allowed to open one gift Christmas Eve. It has to be one of the gifts under the tree from a brother or sister--not from one of their other relatives. Or it can be a gift that is addressed to the Family if all agree.
Hubby reads the Christmas Story from the Bible before they go to bed.
And then hubby and I are usually up late after the kids go to sleep making sure all the presents are wrapped and under the tree and in the stockings.
Oh--and we still have to put out a cookie and milk for Santa-even though the kids are older and they "know".

Tradition for us is, Dec 24, we meet at my parents house. Just the immediate family; me, my daughter, sis and her kids and whomever she is living with at the time, mom and dad. We order a pizza, drink beer or wine, unwrap presents, take pictures, relax.

The following day, Dec 25, the whole family comes back to that same house... uncles, aunts, cousins, everyone... festive and dressy but still fun. Lots of eating, drinking *my* homemade eggnog (which is always too sugary), talking. Dad always rents 3 or 4 movies, whatever is popular that he can get his hands on... the guys watch the tube while us ladies cook, hang out in the kitchen, talk, etc. and the kids terrorize each other in some other part of mom's house.

For just my daughter and myself, I'm happy to say this untraditional woman has an actual Christmas tradition. First off I put up my fake tree and all the lights, decorations, etc., the day after Thanksgiving (since I'm always off work that day). Daughter helps me in putting the ornaments and candy canes on the tree. Cats help to take them off (over the course of the next month). Christmas Eve morning... daughter and I wake up and get ready for the day of pizza and presents at Mimi's house. Christmas Eve, daughter and I come home to our pad, spend time snuggling, watching Christmas specials... we get the plate of cookies and the mug of milk ready for Santa. Make sure the fireplace is not too messy for him to enter our house and leave presents.

Christmas Day I get up before her, set the presents out. Take a bite or two out of the cookies, dump half the milk (last year the bunny ate most of the cookies). Then I take the greatest delight in watching my daughter's eyes as she comes down the stairs and sees the gifts under the tree! Watch her unwrap them and marvel.

Then we get dolled up and go to the large family gathering.

I love Christmas!

- darkeyedgirl

A simple tradition I remember from my childhood...every Christmas Eve after we were asleep, our mother would tiptoe into the bedroom my younger sister and I shared and place a new doll or teddy bear on each of our beds.

It was always such a thrill for us to wake up on Christmas morning and find the new toys in our beds. I'll never forget that.

I spend every Christmas with my sister now, and we always watch "It's a Wonderful Life" after opening gifts with all the kids. Everybody gets cozy and comfortable, with plates and plates of Christmas cookies and fudge on the coffee table, and just enjoy being together.

When our 4 kids were young, we started a "cheap gift" tradition ...something everyone could participate in and afford. We put our 6 names in a hat and drew out one each ...that would be the person who would receive our gift. Together we chose a theme ...the first year we had to find 5 items that began with the letters in S-A-N-T-A. We couldn't spend more than $5 total ...a local auction/garage sale and thrift stores were our main sources for the items (we even gave recognition to the one who spent the least). Another year we couldn't spend more than $2 and had to find a "wearable" item ...which everyone then had to wear for a minimum of 2 hours on Christmas Day (our son was a good sport and wore a very ugly multi-strand plastic beaded necklace). As the kids grew older (they're now 27-33 with kids of their own), we started raising the amount to $10 or $20 dollars (depending on the theme) and also started more crafting. One year we had to use wood, ...another year Sculpy clay (I have a great Santa face candy dish that turned black because my son thought he was supposed to broil, rather than bake, it! ...I get it out every year :-) Once we made a joint activity ...a Nativity by dividing it up into people, animals and manger and each drawing 3 items. We decided on a scale for size, but everyone was free to use any medium they wanted ...someone thought she could remember her items w/o checking and we ended up with 2 Josephs and no Mary! ..and one of the Wise men looked like he'd been imbibing in something. We end up laughing a lot as we open these "gifts." Of all the gifts we give and receive, the "cheap gift" time has become the most cherised ...the theme is only limited by your imagination!

Ever since I was a child we would go to a Christmas tree farm and cut down our own tree. My sisters and I are all grown and have children of our own. We pick a Sunday in early December and all of us, my Mom and Dad, my sisters and their husbands and kids and my own husband and kids go to the same tree farm. (15 people in total) We all wander around and each family finds a tree to take home. If there is snow on the ground we usually end up having a snowball fight. There is always a competion for the "best" tree. We always asked someone to take a group shot of all of us with our trees. Afterward we all go to my parents house for lunch. We always sing Christmas carols and play games. (musical chairs, guessing games, word searches) There are prizes for the winners. It is such an enjoyable day and it gives us all time to take a much needed breather from the busy Christmas time.

Well, for me, Christmas wouldn't be Christmas without petit fours. They have been my all time favorite treat forever. My dad buys a tin of them for me every year, even though I have a home and family of my own.

We always buy or make a new ornament (sometimes more than one) each year. Also, a tradition that's been carried on for quite a while is "moving the mouse". I got a cloth advent calendar one year and there's a tiny gray mouse that you move each day. Now, by son loves doing this. We have snacks for Christmas Eve, tons of snacks. No real food. We save that for Christmas day, in which we always have ham and some type of fruit salad, among other things.

A few years ago my dh's family started a new tradition. We had a tragic year and being from a small town, we had used our local emergency services a lot. One nephew hung himself in his crib that had broke (all is well now), dh was shot in the chest (also fine, thank God) and a few smaller things. Anyhow we decided to do something special for them since they don't get the holidays off. Every year we fill a basket full of goodies and take it to them. All 25 of us walk into the fire department, embulance service and police/sherrif station and sing some carols and leave our baskets. The men in our family hate it but us women look at it as a real gift and the kids just love it. I am sure that they appreciate the goodies and being thanked in such a personal manner. After our expedition we head to Christmas Eve church service. I think that it is a wonderful tradition that I hope we never end.
Happy Holidays
Christie

When my kids were little, we always hid their first ornament on the tree, at first, we hid it a couple branches up above their heads so they could barely see it, or something easy like that. They had to find the ornie before they could open any gifts. As the years progressed, it was harder and harder to find. They loved doing this, in fact, when my son came home from college teh first year, I had the ornie on the tree, but didn't really hide it, and when he got up christmas morning, he started looking for the ornie first thing, and I thought he was too old for that! My daughter did the same thing when she came from her house later in the day. Good thing I did that instead of wrapping them to give them as a gift, which is what I had intended to do. Anyways, they still go on our tree, and I guess they always will. Now my daughter has plans to do the very same thing with her kids. Guess it was a good thing!

Each Christmas Eve, from the time my kids were just tiny, we get a cup of tea, sit on the bed, and I read the story "The Littlest Angel" to them. It is one of their favorite traditions. Both are on their own now and I purchased the same book for each of them as a gift so they can continue this with their children. When they are home though, I do the reading for them.

this is a tradition we started! we were very poor when our children were growing up so instead of a lot of presents they got a lot of memories!
we always set aside the first saturday in dec. as kids day we would make sure we had this day together no mater what! on kids day we decorated the whole house baked cookies listened to a favorite christmas album and had lots of fun1 it was a day deticated to them! the tradition has been passed on to the grand kids!
we feel we have to give our children stuff to make then happy but we did a lot of things like this...one of my girls recently said to me "mom I never knew we were poor,my friends were always so jelous of the wonderful times we had,they were the friends who got lots of stuff but never the memories because their parents just didn,t take the time!

Christmas Eve, we go to the candle light service at church as a family, (my husband and I, our son, my mother, our grown daughter (my step-daughter), and our granddaughter (see loves it) included.) Then we drive around and look at Christmas lights and then we go by the only restaurant open by that time (the local Chinese place) and get take out, go home and eat together and then try to get everyone that has to leave to go home and everyone else in bed. My husband and I usually go on to bed set the alarm for about 2:00am and get up and put out "Santa Clause".

Things will be a lot different this year. My mother always spent the night with us; she and my young son would sleep in my husband and my bed (we would just kind of camp out in the living room). It was a given that "Mamaw" would be at out house on Christmas Eve. Well she passed away in January. We still miss her so much. I don't know how things will work out this year, but I still want to keep as many of the traditions as we can. She would want it like that. She was a kind and loving Christian woman.

Okay, there are so many postings here nobody will ever get to mine, but I wanted to add that we always watch our home video of the past Christmas before we open any gifts. It is great to see how the kids have grown and how the adults have changed too!

So many wonderful ideas! We always spend Christmas Eve with my side of the family. We have potluck dinner (well, it's not a formal dinner- it's more like GRAZING!) Earlier in the day I buy a helium balloon for each child that will be present. Then that evening, we all go outside- sing Happy Birthday to Jesus and let go of the balloons. It's a neat way to keep the kids focused on the true meaning of christmas. Then we continue to eat, sing christmas carols, read the christmas story from the bible and always just before we open gifts we sing Silent Night. These traditions have gone on since before I was born! (long time)

Cookies, We always bake and decorate Christmas cookies.It's so much fun and the kids love it.Of course this is a few days before Christmas.We also get together with the neighbors and exchange small gifts and enjoy each others company for a couple hours.