Christmas traditions.

16 years ago

Hi all. I'm new and I have a few questions, that I'll save for another post. I thought for now I'd start with a thread for everyone.

What traditions did you have growing up? Which do you have now if you've got your own kids/house/married etc?

Do you have any decorating traditions?

I'll start with mine.

Deocrating wise, everything goes up December 1st. There is always a christmas movie on the tv in the background. And now that I have been of age for a few years, rum and egg nog! and I always get to put the star on top! Always have. And will until we have children.

When my boyfriend was little, the kids had their own tree that they got to decorate all by themselves, however they wanted. We plan to continue that once we have kids and they're old enough.

As far as stockings, gift giving, and christmas day traditions, we have a few.

A few from my childhood that we continue now are a mandarin orange, chocolate orange and seashell chocolates in my stocking.

My boyfriend always got a toothbrush, toothpaste and travel shampoo along with chocolate money. So he still gets that.

We both also always got ferrero roche chocolates, so we still do.

We also now always put a movie/videogame/cd in eachothers stockings.

When I was little if we woke up before 8:30 we were allowed to take out stockings into our room and open them, and wait til 8:30. Now we get up, make coffee, and open our stockings while we wait. We also open the animals stockings for them at this time, so they're occupied when we open gifts.

We both were always allowed to open a gift christmas eve, so we still do that. We choose which one the other gets to open. Almost always comfy new pj's to wear that night.

And also, it doesn't matter how old you are, Santa will always bring a present or two while you sleep!

Your turn!

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Comments (8)

luvstocraft
16 years ago
Welcome Munkos, Nice to have you joining in here. Sounds like you both have some very nice traditions to continue now as you begin your own family. I'm sure you will find new ones to add along the way too.

I've found that our's have had to evolve over the years. We are in transition now since we have a little granddaughter to share the holidays with, so most things have been adjusted to work around her.

We have certain things we always try to do, like get together to make DH's late Uncles's Peanut Brittle recipe, and batches of fudge. I always play Elvis' Blue Christmas during or right after we decorate the tree. The first year I played it, DH had to be away oversees--now it reminds us of family and friends who live away from us or who are no longer with us. Some of the ornaments we take out to put on the tree hold memories of the people who gifted them to us or some that I made with my sister or a friend. And all of us love to head off to an area where they have nearly every house lit and music playing so we can stroll along and ooh and aah at the beauty of it all--this is especially fun now with a whole new little set of eyes to enjoy it.

It's a wonderful season, and a time that tends to bring all of us a little closer. Enjoy all the good food, fun, and especially your families. Hope you will come back and chat with us often.

Luvs
labmomma
16 years ago
DH brings the tree box out of the attic on the day after Thanksgiving. I then send everyone out of the house. I assemble and light the tree. It is a weekend-long thing for me with the tree, I put all of the ornaments and such and stand back and move things, stand back, sleep on it and move things. Neuroses pure and simple about the tree. That's why I send everyone out. Then the house decorating begins. I rummage through all of the boxes to find the things I want to put out. It differs from year to year, some years are red and some years are burgandy. I am crazy with the color thing as well.

Little tip, if you hate the way your hands feel after weaving the lights on your tree, I have been using an old pair of leather gloves the past few years and they save my hands from little cuts and such from doing the lights! I won't light the tree or anything for that matter with bare hands again! I just put the gloves away in the tree box and that way I know where they are on the day I need them. I was amazed how discolored and torn up the gloves were after the first year I started using my head. My leather gloves are red, they are now a black color and lots of little cut marks. I don't think the tree gets dusty, but something comes off of it! LOL.

Family traditions - SIL hosts an early afternoon supper (try and not have her little ones up to late). We exchange gifts with DH family and eat, eat and eat some more. Come home and assemble Christmas morning sticky buns. Sits in the oven overnight to rise. It's a cinnamon bun kind of thing with frozen dinner rolls as the main ingredient. It's simple and we don't really like big breakfasts in our house. I just serve hot coffee, or hot cocoa and OJ. We open presents and just relax till noon or so. Then I clean up and start getting ready for the dinner.

Christmas day I cook dinner for my parents and brother and SIL. Shrimp cocktail and hot crab dip start the dinner which is usually a standing rib roast. Different sides every year. Dessert the last couple of years has been the giant carmel apples from Williams Sonoma (to die for), cookies, homemade candy, WS peppermint bark. We open presents again.

I love to shuffle my Christmas CDs through the holiday season, it puts me in good mood after a long day of shopping and spending.
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For many years, my family did the following: - My children and I went as a family to choose our tree on the first weekend in December and brought it home and decorated it. I did lights and tinsel and then the kids hung up the ornaments. Each child hung any ornaments that had been given to them or made by them in previous years and they shared hanging the "family" ones. I also hung a couple ornaments myself that were particular favorites and had been gifts. (In the earliest years, I also "re-dispersed" the ornaments hung by the children so that there were at least a few near the top!!) - Christmas Eve was spent with extended family (usually 60+ strong) at someone's home or eventually a clubhouse we rented due to the growth of our family. We had a pot-luck dinner and exchanged gifts from names drawn earlier. Lately, with economic times being tougher, we started doing smaller token gifts like ornaments. - After the extended family Christmas Eve, we went to the Candlelight Sevice at church. - Presents were opened on Christmas morning as soon as daylight appeared ("dawn" rule was made because Mom is a procrastinator and tended to wrap until the wee hours of Christmas Eve and I needed some sleep!). I always did stockings for each child - even when the were grown and those were opened first (each item individually wrapped to draw it out a bit!!). We tried to open the gifts one at a time, but were not always successful! So Santa's gifts were always wrapped in solid red paper with white bows and the kids were allowed to "tear into" them and we slowed it down a bit when it came to the others. - After presents, Mom cooked a big breakfast and then everyone tended to drift back to their beds to catch up on missed sleep. When my parents were alive, we went to their house Christmas afternoon. My children are now grown, and there are many pulls for their time on Christmas Eve and Christmas morning. So I have changed my traditions accordingly. So for the past few years: - Any of us who can will go to the extended family celebration on Christmas Eve (some of the children have spouses or significant others with similar family events, so they are alternating years with ours). - Afterward, anyone who is available goes together to the Candlelight Church Service. - Christmas morning is left to be celebrated at each individual home if desired. When my children eventually have their own kids, they will have this time to celebrate at home with them so that Santa can come to the children's own home and they will be tucked up in their own beds. This allows the parents to come up with their own traditions, ie cookies for Santa, reading of books, etc. For now, with no grandbabies, my children can still come to our house Christmas Eve night and be there for the morning if they choose... but we are doing it differently! - We are no longer doing the dawn rush for presents as there are no small children waiting eagerly for Santa. Instead, we allow everyone to sleep alittle later and I still do the big Christmas breakfast about 9am for anyone staying here or joining us. - In years past, Christmas evening tended to be somewhat of a "let-down" with the presents already opened and all the holiday merry-making coming to an end...and I was so exhausted from getting up at dawn and wrapping till whenever that I did not do a real "Christmas Dinner". So now Christmas evening is when we have our family Christmas celebration. In late afternoon (3p-4p) we have a big Christmas dinner with the best china and all the trimmings. This time-frame allows time for anyone needing to be other places in the morning or midday for other celebrations. Anyone staying home can help decorate cookies or assist with dinner or just watch football etc! I have asked the children to dress up for our Christmas Dinner and make it a bit more formal now that they are grown and I think they actually enjoy it! I asked for "nicer clothes" but now I see even suits and party dresses... and I love it since we rarely have dressy occassions and it makes for wonderful photos!! - After dinner, we open some wine, snack on desserts and goodies, take photos, talk, and play games...just be together till about 8pm. I like to wait till dark because the tree and lights and candles are so much more beautiful. Where my focus used to be on piles of morning gifts, I now spend my energy on the food and decorations...making it a warm, loving evening with lots of old fashioned, traditional charm. Tons of candles, a fire in the fireplace, soft Christmas music, and way too many sweets (I love to bake!) - Finally, we exchange gifts. Having changed the focus of our Christmas celebration, and also the "quantity" of gifts we give, we open them one at a time with everyone watching to make each one more special. I feel it returns us to the days when people selected one or two gifts for a person and they were very special with alot of thought put into each gift and maybe even doing some special wrapping...rather than the flood of gifts I gave the kids each year. We sat down a few years ago and discussed it as a family, so no one was disappointed on Christmas(well not too much!!). 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linda1949
16 years ago
labmomma...would you mind sharing your recipes for sticky buns. and shrimp cocktail and hot crab dip. thanks. Linda

We always have some small things to open Christmas Eve, usually a game we can all play way into the night. Last year it was a handmade aggravation game. Christmas morning we're on the bigger gifts and lots of football and naps.
labmomma
16 years ago
STICKY BUNS
1/2 c. chopped walnuts
1/2 c. raisins
1 c. brown sugar
1 c. butter
1 3oz. box butterscotch pudding
1 bag frozen small dinner rolls

Place nuts & raisins in the bottom of a well greased bundt pan. Layer frozen dinner rolls evenly in pan. Sprinkle butterscotch pudding and brown sugar over rolls evenly. Pour butter over and sprinkle with cinnamon.
Cover with a clean towel and let rise for 8 hrs. Do not put let rise in a gas oven. If you have an electric oven you can place them in the oven overnight to rise.

Bake 350 for 20 minutes, turn onto cake dish and serve.

HOT CRAB DIP

2 8oz pkgs cream cheese
1 lb lumb crab meat
1 c. grated sharp cheddar
3 good shakes of garlic salt
3 t. Worcestershire Sauce
1 3oz container sour cream - I like my dip thick and find that the sour cream can make it too watery. I usually use 3 T of sour cream only.
Mix all ingredients with handmixer until combined. Fold in crab meat and 1/2 of cheddar cheese. Put into baking dish and sprinkle remainder of cheddar on top.
Bake 350 degrees till bubbly - 25-30 mins depending on your oven. I let mine get a little brown on top.
Serve with Triscuit crackers or cracker of your choice.

SHRIMP COCKTAIL

Bag of frozen jumbo shrimp
cocktail sauce - ketchup and horseradish
I usually put bag of shrimp in a collander in the morning and run cold water over until shrimp is mostly thawed but not totally. I then wrap the shrimp in paper toweling and place into a Ziploc bag and refrigerate until I platter them. Easy easy. Serve with the cocktail sauce, purchased or homemade, whatever your heart's desire!
linda1949
16 years ago
thank you very much! Linda
jannie
16 years ago
Decorations are the Christmas tree, Nativity set, and a wreath on the front door. That's all. We give our kids (Two teen daughters) a stocking on Christmas eve, and on Christmas day we all open our gifts under the tree. Oh, and we usually go to Mass at noon.
laurenk88_pa
16 years ago
The first thing that happens is that as soon as the Thanksgiving Day parade is over and Santa runs up the steps of the Philadelphia Museum of Art, I can break out the Christmas music. Non stop all day while I cook.

I try to have the tree up over the Thanksgiving weekend. I'm allergic to real trees, so my artificial will last all season!

Christmas morning tradition is Monkey Bread and OJ, and usually scrambled eggs, bacon, and a rousing game of whatever new board game we've received.
pugga
16 years ago
When we were growing up, we opened the presents under the tree on Christmas Eve and then had our presents that Santa left for us in our stockings on Christmas morning.

As adults, we still open gifts on Christmas Eve and have dinner together. My sister and brother both have their own families so I have developed my own tradition for Christmas Day. After coffee, I take a shower and put on a brand new pair of pajamas to spend the day in. Throughout the rest of the day, I have my favorite hors d'oeurves and some sweets on hand whenever I feel like nibbling and just lounge around reading and watching movies.

Christmas traditions.

Comments (8)

luvstocraft

labmomma

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